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Sept. 6, 2023 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:15
Dr. Oz's Alzheimer's Journey & a Chat with Bernie Sanders | Dr. Oz | S11 | Ep 4 | Full Episode
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Time Text
It's very painful to admit this, and I blamed myself.
Today, my truth.
My mother was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
The symptoms even I missed.
I'm gonna lose her as the woman that knows me.
Plus, it's our first candidate checkup, Bernie Sanders.
Tough questions, candid answers.
You have a president who believes that he can get re-elected by dividing the American people.
Coming up next.
Are you ready for season 11?
Yeah!
Yeah!
Welcome is the start of a new season, the very first day!
Are you all happy to be here?
I am thrilled to be back.
Thank you all.
And what I love the most about this show is that we always tell you the truth.
So I'm going to start the season with the most personal show I have ever done.
Now this year, I'm asking you to share your stories in your own words because I believe that the power of one powers us all.
And if I'm asking that of you, I have to be willing to share my own story.
So today, my truth.
My mother was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
And even though I'm a doctor, and I do this show every day, I fear I may have missed some of the signs.
I don't fear it, I know it.
Now, I'm letting you in on this deeply personal story in the hopes that you will know what to do for someone that you love.
Take a look.
Hi, Mom.
Not Pearson, not Susan.
What did you eat today?
But what was the food you ate?
Ice cream?
You remember the ice cream?
She remembers she had ice cream, but she wasn't sure what else she ate, which is a problem, because she just ate a couple hours ago.
A couple months ago, I got news that hit me like a gut punch.
My mom has Alzheimer's.
The doctors who told me, we're as confident as you could be.
Even though her son, me, had missed the clues completely.
Mom was special.
All moms are special, but my mom had a remarkable ability to deal with me.
And I was not an easy kid.
I think both my parents were proud of me.
My father never told me.
My mother always told me.
And I got Absolutely a complete and unadulterated love for my mom at every level of my existence.
I loved having my mom on the show, but in the beginning, I didn't know what we'd talk about, and she actually Skyped in from Turkey, and she was a hit.
Well, you look beautiful, Mom.
I love you.
Thanks for coming on.
Thank you very much for inviting me.
I must tell you though, I love your show.
She came out on the show as recently as two and a half years ago.
Completely coherent.
I have to say thank you very, very much.
You're such a good nurse.
Thank you as well.
Now my sister just sent me a video that I think demonstrates that to anybody you'd recognize she has a big problem.
Hi, mommy.
Hi, love.
What are you doing?
I am making up my face.
So I wait to get prettier, more prettier and prettier.
And then I will go with my mom.
She says she's going with her mom, who died from Alzheimer's.
But you can see why, as a caregiver, I get worried.
Because I can't let my mom make decisions if she thinks she's talking to my grandmother.
This picture, I think, is the best reflection of what Alzheimer's can do to you.
You can see how beautiful my mom's eyes are, but she's not processing what she's seeing like she used to.
This is a painful picture to look at because my mom doesn't remember Daphne anymore.
Gosh, they had a good time together.
I think anyone who has a parent with Alzheimer's has a bunch of conflicting emotions.
One, you're upset and sad at the loss of your parent, but also you're wondering if you're seeing your own future, so you're worried about that as well.
He's grateful for the days that he has now that she recognizes who he is, because that's not going to last.
I call my mom almost every day, only for one reason.
I know I'm not going to cure her.
I'm calling her to tell her I love her.
All right.
Mom, I love you.
I'll call you again tomorrow.
I want to share this journey with you because in learning, there is teaching.
I asked my good friend Maria Shriver to be here today because she has walked in these shoes.
Her own father, one of the greatest Americans, man who shaped this country, Sergeant Shriver, was diagnosed and eventually succumbed to the disease at age 95. I remember meeting your dad later in his life when he had the Alzheimer's diagnosis.
And I was stunned, both because I knew and respected him before he had the disease, but also respected the family and what you were able to do to help him.
What did you do when you first knew that your dad had Alzheimer's?
We got together.
My brothers, I have four brothers, and my mom.
And what's important to know, I think, when someone you love is diagnosed with Alzheimer's is that everybody goes through it in a different way.
One of the things I think that my brothers and I did well that I often advocate for As you know, I've started a non-profit to bring attention to Alzheimer's, to bring attention to the warning signs, and fund research into understanding the disease.
But my brothers and I got together, and we did a weekly conference call.
And we got on the same page.
But I would want to know how you're doing.
You're approaching this, I know, from a teaching place.
But I want to know as a son, because we're children of Alzheimer's, I'm only teaching it because I spend a lot of time processing it.
I love my mom dearly.
I am here because of her.
She was able to get across the way to feel about life in ways that are unique and to watch that wisdom, the shine in her eyes, because she has beautiful eyes, begin to cloud over.
It's very painful.
And I blamed myself Because I realized that if I had found it earlier, it could have helped certainly delay and install it.
The clues were there.
She wasn't understanding what was going on.
So many kids say, I blame myself.
But I don't know that blaming ourselves does anything.
And that actually stepping in and trying to find some sort of support system for you, actually, is the great thing and then using this as a teaching moment.
What do you want people to know from this moment?
The biggest lesson for me, it's very painful to admit this on my own stage, is that my family lost our truth.
How do you mean?
The biggest lies we tell are the ones we tell ourselves.
So we all saw parts of my mom falling apart.
Her makeup wasn't perfect.
My sister would see that, one of the sisters.
She would start giving away things to people she didn't really know.
Another sister saw that.
She would argue with me about a therapy I wanted to give to my dad, even though normally she trusts my judgment.
She's been on the stage.
She's spent time with all the audience.
She's a smart woman.
She should never have pushed back on these ideas.
And my dad was the ringleader because they were married 60 years.
He couldn't deal with the possibility that the woman he loved had Alzheimer's.
Could you deal with the possibility?
I had trouble dealing with it.
I remember I was in Turkey when the neurologist came in to say we put her through a mental status test and she flunked.
And as I was just dealing with that gut punch, my dad said, that's not possible, you're wrong.
And my father's a doctor and a strong-willed man.
And they switched neurologists.
I mean, the first step, if you're told you have Alzheimer's, is not switch to doctor.
You might switch to doctor for other reasons, but that's not a good one.
And that lie propagated.
The diagnosis of Alzheimer's is no time to start lying to each other.
It's the time to actually bluntly and brutally tell the truth, and we really struggled with that, and I bet you we're not alone.
So many people would probably think Dr. Oz would miss the signs because that's your lane, right?
So what do you think you could have done differently?
What do you think you could tell people?
It's a chameleon of a disease.
It's slippery.
It's like a snake in the grass.
You sort of see the grass moving, but you can't quite tell what it is.
And you don't want to admit it because it's too painful.
The idea that you would lose, which is how I feel now, that I'm going to lose my mom twice.
And I'm scared of the day...
I was just going to ask you that.
One day my mom, while she's still in her physical body, while that's still alive, so birth certificate and death certificate have not both been signed, I'm going to lose her as the woman that knows me.
So, since you described so beautifully a few of the symptoms, are you okay with walking our audience?
Just pick six things we want you to focus on.
And just try to figure out if these are happening to people you love.
Is that okay?
I love it.
This is my mission.
So, come back over here.
Okay.
And I put these up on the screen.
We'll go in whatever order you want.
So, challenges and planning.
Let me take that one.
Okay, you take that.
My dad required fairly sophisticated care.
And my mom...
Began to challenge the plans, as I mentioned earlier.
So what you're also saying, which I think is important, is that very often our parents are having dual challenges.
They're both having challenges.
And as children, we don't know, should we focus, like, my mom broke her hip.
She was having strokes.
Should I focus on my dad's memory?
Should I focus over here with my mom?
So I think taking turns or trying to focus in is a big thing.
It's worse.
They enable each other.
In my case, they enabled each other.
That's probably why they're married 60-something years.
My dad denied she had Alzheimer's and she used a non-sensible way of dealing with his illness and boom.
All right, so challenges in planning, difficulty completing tasks, confusing time and place, this became a big deal.
My mom would say, why don't you come over for lunch?
I said, Mom, you're an 11-hour flight from me.
I'm not near you.
But it was so episodic, I just thought she was sleepy or maybe taking a sleeping pill or something and just missed one point.
But the third time, I should have woken up to it.
At that point, it became that combined with this was what finally tipped me off that there was a problem.
Trouble understanding visuals.
This is the kind of thing where, you know, mom says, move the sofa into the corner.
You say, mom, that sofa's not going to fit in the corner.
Not being able to do the spatial math that we all do naturally.
Did that ever happen to your dad?
No, that didn't.
But my dad started doing a lot of repetition.
That's a problem with words, right?
In the tape, my mom was trying to find the word for beautiful.
She just kept saying pretty instead.
But I know that's not the word she was trying to find.
And finally, misplacing and losing the ability to retrace your steps, which wasn't a big issue for my mom, but it happens to a lot of folks.
So how do you kind of put all these together, and what is your lesson to your overall family and your TV family?
So, I'm going to share with everybody, as honest as I can, the trip that my mom's on, the things that I'm going to do, and most importantly, things you all need to do.
These are just some of the things that our daughters and our sons and our friends and our neighbors should all be looking for.
Anyone can pick up on these things.
But if you don't talk to each other, you sort of feel like you're the only one, and you don't want to accuse your friend or loved one of having Alzheimer's, so everyone keeps their mouth shut, which is what happened in my family.
Every family will cope differently.
My pledge this year is the power of one, because each of us has the power to start the ball rolling.
It's going to be nerve-wracking, right, to be the one who says something's wrong with mom.
It's downright frightening to know that this hereditary gene may be lurking in our own bodies, as it is in me.
And trust me, I know.
My family's going through this right now and so am I. But there's power in getting it out, right?
Calling it out, letting it known, get early intervention because it makes a difference.
It will.
Even prevention is possible.
And you're not alone.
We are all caregivers to someone because we all ultimately care.
All right, so since I got the news about my mom, I've heard from others who have walked in these shoes.
Take a look.
Breathe, believe, receive.
That's what we say.
So breathe in the faith that you're going to get through this thing.
Believe that hope and optimism, well they're your co-partners in caring.
And receive the help from the community and so many who love you and want to be there for you.
People like me.
It's heartbreaking, but you have to stay strong through this.
We move forward with love and to show the love that you have for your mother to her, every chance that you get to be present with her, and to continue to share your experiences with the world.
I am so grateful for all these beautiful messages of hope and support, not just for me, but for all of you watching at home.
I cannot thank you enough, and God bless you for all you do.
Thank you, Mehmet.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We'll be right back.
When we come back, we're gonna find out what my risk of Alzheimer's is.
We're going inside one of the premier Alzheimer's clinics in America.
You'll learn about your health as well.
My mother's Alzheimer's diagnosis sent my family reeling.
And knowing Alzheimer's can be hereditary, I've been worried about my own chances of getting the disease, not just for me, but for the kids and my grandkids.
But do I really want to know my risk level?
It's the hardest question I've had to ask myself.
I thought and I prayed about it and ultimately I decided that I have to practice what I preached to all of you.
I got to know my numbers so I can take the preventive steps and there are many of them out there.
I didn't want to do this alone so I'm bringing all of you along for the ride.
We're going to do a few tests today, the A, Bs, and Cs, and then we'll talk and we'll do a quick clinical history.
First up, the A test.
A stands for anthropometrics.
This involves testing for things like body fat, body composition.
What most people don't realize is that when the belly size gets bigger, the memory center of the brain actually gets smaller.
You're kidding me.
Yep.
Okay, now we're going to go on to the B test.
It's the second step where we're going to look at your blood biomarkers.
Step right in here.
They draw blood and look for things like my inflammation, metabolism, cholesterol, and my genes.
Okay, one tiny prick.
Let's do the C test now.
We're gonna check your cognitive function.
I gotta be honest, this one made me a little nervous.
I was asked questions about remembering words and matching up pictures and it even tested my sense of smell.
It smells like lemon to me.
Can I ask you, what does smell have to do with Alzheimer's?
Why was I smelling those cards?
Well, understanding what the smell was and remembering the name of the smell is part of assessing how the brain is working in terms of memory function.
And finally, a really detailed clinical history.
What was your class rank in high school?
Second.
Second?
My best friend did me.
Oh, that guy.
Did you play sports?
I played three sports in high school.
I was a linebacker.
I had two concussions.
How often do you exercise?
What do you do?
I do yoga every morning.
We also reviewed my mother's MRIs of her brain.
So if you look at the brain here, the brain's gotten smaller.
There's a part of the brain called the hippocampus.
You can see here is there's a little bit more extra space, these white fluid-filled spaces over here.
And then this part of the brain here, it's called the gray matter, has gotten a little bit smaller than what we would have liked.
And this is where memories are stored.
We just went through an extensive testing.
How long until you can tell me what I should do?
Well, there's a lot of information to digest.
Let's go through it and I'll tell you on the show.
If you want to try the at-home version of the same cognitive Alzheimer's test I took in the lab, go to the website on the screen right now.
We're also going to post a link on Facebook.
Please share it with the people that you care about.
Dr. Richard Isaacson is here with my results.
I want you all to pay attention because you can ask your doctor for the exact same test that I took and take advantage of the advice that I'm about to get here.
We bring you the best in the world.
So let's start with the physical tests.
How did I fare?
Well, Dr. Oz, you ready for the results?
You did great.
You get an A+. Your muscle mass, your body fat, it's excellent.
You're doing well.
You're doing well so far.
Despite the fact that my genetics aren't ideal, this is a bit of a help.
You're doing well, but let's talk about some of the other information now.
That's a bad sign.
All right, so how about the blood work?
What did that show?
Okay, so the blood work.
Now, you're a heart surgeon, so this is a little strange to tell you this, but one of your cholesterol numbers, your LDL, the bad cholesterol, was a little higher than I'd like it to be.
Believe it or not, it was 109. Cholesterol being high fast forwards Alzheimer's disease.
And someone like me, or folks at home, they can improve their risk just by, for example, lowering their cholesterol.
Absolutely.
Too many people at home are worried about, do they have the Alzheimer's gene?
Well, you know what?
They should go check the genes in their closet.
Because as the waist size gets bigger, the memory center gets smaller.
Anyone today can make changes and reduce their risk.
I want everyone to hear what you just said.
Don't lose weight to look better.
Lose weight so you can remember what the heck you're doing.
And it's not just about weight, it's about body fat.
Know those numbers.
This is the part that really stressed me out, the cognitive testing.
Guys, this was hard.
So, how did I fare on this?
Okay, so overall, you did well.
Your brain, your brain, no, no, you did okay.
I didn't think I did well.
Right, your brain is doing really well.
But there's a couple of things we wanna fine tune.
Your face, name, associative memory, eh, wasn't as perfect.
The good news is that people at home can go online and take these tests, and with you, we need to do something.
We need to fine tune your activities.
You do yoga, you do exercise, but you need more high intensity interval training.
We now have data on hundreds of patients that have been doing the exact individualized plan that I'm giving you today.
And those patients improve their brain function, and they can turn back the clock on cognitive aging.
This is a wake-up call for me.
I've noticed it, I don't know if you all do, but we don't find the words as quickly as we get older, which I know sometimes is normal.
I don't want it.
I never realized I could make my brain work better by addressing, and by the way, in addition, I won't get the Alzheimer's.
But that's 20 years, 30 years from now.
Right now I'm concerned about being smarter today.
All right, so you looked at my DNA. I have one of the Alzheimer's genes.
It's called ApoE4, right?
And then I have another one that's pretty common called ApoE3.
Is that right?
Well, a little surprise for you.
And this is really common.
People sometimes look at their genetic information, get a little overwhelmed, and misinterpret their own genetic information.
It doesn't matter if you're a doctor or anyone else that doesn't have medical training.
I didn't get my own DNA risk right?
Believe it or not, you did not.
Over 600 patients that we've tested in our clinic, we only have four people with your set of genes.
Believe it or not, you have one copy of the four gene that increases your risk, and you have another copy of the two gene that's protective of four two.
Oh my goodness.
I thought I was...
Well, that's better.
You know what?
That's better.
So what I'm hearing from you is powerful.
What do I tell my kids?
What do I say to the grandkids?
How much power do they have over this process?
Well, this is gonna sound shocking, but Alzheimer's prevention should begin when a baby is in the womb.
Believe it or not, the type of a diet that the mother eats while pregnant impacts cognitive outcomes later.
That's a powerful message.
Think about that.
Alzheimer's prevention while you're still in the womb.
Listen, we gotta know our numbers.
We gotta talk to our docs.
We talk about that on the show a lot.
Then you can take the steps to increase our odds of avoiding the disease that we all fear most, Alzheimer's.
We're gonna put this important infographic up on my Facebook page.
When we come back, breaking news about the new Alzheimer's blood test.
Could it lead to a diagnosis 20 years early?
Stay with us.
Wendy Williams.
Raw.
Real.
And not holding back.
I will get married again.
There will be a prenuptial agreement.
All nuance.
That's coming up on Wednesday.
We're back with the latest from the forefront of Alzheimer's prevention.
Now, our insiders say there's breaking news about a cutting-edge blood test that may detect Alzheimer's disease 20 years before symptoms appear.
Can you imagine that?
20 years ahead of time.
My power team of Alzheimer's insiders are back.
Thank you for joining me.
So researchers have spent their entire careers looking for ways to diagnose Alzheimer's earlier.
We've been all, everyone in this audience, everyone can hear my voice, been wishing for this, but there's a new blood test now that seems to affect much earlier.
What are your thoughts on this?
So Alzheimer's begins in the brain 20 to 30 years before symptoms.
We know that, but we haven't been able to detect it.
This new blood test, for the first time, really ups our chances of detecting it so we can intervene early and people can grab them all by the horns and control their risk.
So Max, both of us have been affected by Alzheimer's personally, our moms.
What would it mean to you, to me, to our kids, if we could diagnose it 20 years ahead of time?
I mean, this can give us hope that we might be able to maybe not go down the same path as our parents.
Let's take a look at what this new blood test might be able to do.
I made you a little diagram with the brain.
And in everyone's brain, of course, we're all different in some ways, but there's some standard things that make us unique.
And our brains sort of look like this, and everyone's brain makes a little bit of amyloid, which is a type of protein, right?
It's important to have the right amount.
But in brains with Alzheimer's disease, this amyloid, it accumulates, it clumps together.
You see all these little yellow things?
When they clump together, they form plaques that look like this.
So currently, doctors use tests like PET scans and MRI scans.
That's a PET scan.
Those are red things you're not supposed to have there.
What would this test mean for patients watching right now, people who are just living their lives, if they knew two decades ahead of time?
Well, this could be the game changer we've all been looking for.
Just like you go to your doctor and you check your blood sugar, and you check your cholesterol, one day we're also gonna be checking the amount of amyloid in the blood.
When you find out that you have amyloid in your blood, you can do something about it, and that's the future of Alzheimer's disease.
I love the progress you're making in this field.
It's unbelievable, unimaginable, I think.
Max, thank you.
You go to DrRoz.com for more information on this blood test.
test.
I'll be right back.
Now, next, our first ever candidate checkup with Senator Bernie Sanders.
We're going to be talking about all kinds of things.
Healthcare, prescription drug prices, how to stay healthy.
On that note, just a little biopsy of your health.
What did you have for breakfast today?
A couple of eggs over easy, a rye toast, and a cup of coffee.
Sound good to you guys?
There's a lot more.
Stick around.
Before you vote for the next president of the United States, it's time to do a candidate checkup.
I'm sitting down with candidates one-on-one to find out where they really stand on the health issues that matter the most to you.
It's the interview you haven't seen.
How will their plans affect your wallet and your health?
And what makes them fit to lead this country as our next president?
Today we're kicking off Season 11 with the first ever Candidate Checkup.
With health issues playing a central role in the upcoming election, I want to sit down with the candidates and check their pulse on things that matter to your family's health.
Everything from prescription drug prices to health care to what these guys are doing in their own lives to stay healthy.
My first ever Candidate Checkup is a senator who is the longest serving independent member of Congress in United States history.
And whose vision for healthcare has everybody, I mean everybody talking.
Please welcome Senator Bernie Sanders.
Thank you for coming.
My pleasure.
Oh my goodness.
Well, you're popular.
Well, hope so.
So let's, if I can, get into your health, to start off with that, because you're on the road all the time, doing something that folks half your age will get worn out by.
It's physically demanding, mentally excruciatingly painful at times, I'm sure, thinking through all these different policies and issues.
How do you stay energetic in order to campaign the way you do, and ultimately, potentially, serve the rigorous role of being our president?
I mean, that is a very important question.
And I will tell you that being on the campaign trail is very difficult.
You don't get enough sleep.
How much do you sleep at night?
Lately, probably five or six hours, which is not enough.
So a campaign trail is really not conducive to good health habits.
But what I try to do as much as I can is walk.
I'm a big walker.
When I was a kid, growing up right here in New York City, in Brooklyn, I was a cross-country runner and a pretty good miler.
And I have good endurance.
What kind of mile times did you run?
437. Are you kidding?
Yeah, I was third in the city.
I don't know if you heard that.
Senator Sanders was third in the city.
There's a lot of people in this city.
Indoor, track, yeah, third in the city.
And I was pretty good in cross-country as well.
So I've been blessed with a little bit of endurance.
Good for you.
So I look back at your medical records, the last set that we have, and you had reflux that had led to some laryngitis at the time.
Yeah.
Is that a pretty accurate status of your health today, by the way?
I thank God.
This is not wood, but I knock on something here.
Here, knock on that.
I have been very healthy in my life, and, you know, I've had some issues, but basically, I've been healthy.
So when you're traveling around eating food at county fairs, and, you know, I've been to many of these fairs, it's hard to find healthy food.
Does it exacerbate your reflux?
No, that's, no, thank God, that's pretty much...
You can tolerate all these foods, no nothing?
No, but, you know, the real problem, I'll tell you what the real problem is, we do a lot of rallies and town meetings.
So you go out and eat at 9, 9.30, and that's not a good time to eat.
So that's one of the problems that we have.
Well, you have the wisdom to realize that, which is good.
Yeah, well, I have the wisdom to realize that that doesn't mean I put what I know into effect.
You know, I end up eating too much, and that's not a great thing.
The most important question I want to ask you today, Is to remind everybody that if elected, you would be age 79 when inaugurated, which will make you the oldest president to have ever gone through that process.
Do you see a benefit of the wisdom that comes with 79 years of experience?
Look, I think if people look at my life's work, which has involved standing up to almost every powerful special interest in this country, I think people will be impressed by that record.
So...
I spent a lot of time, a lot of time in this show bringing people together.
So much of politics, which has become almost a religion in America now, seems focused on dividing people.
How has our nation, just in your 77 years right now of life experience, how has our nation's ability to argue while still respecting each other changed?
Well, I think the last several years we have taken a dramatic shift for the worse.
And, you know, I don't mean to be overly partisan here, but I think you have a president who literally believes that he can get re-elected by dividing the American people up based on the color of our skin, our religion, our sexual orientation, where we were born.
And in fact, the campaign that we are running is exactly the opposite of what Trump is trying to do.
We're trying to bring people together around an agenda that works for everybody and not just the 1%.
And that's what our campaign is about.
I mean, it's what makes a liberal democracy work, right?
So, let me, if I can, push you into healthcare a little bit.
Please.
So, voters say it's the top concern.
Yep.
It comes up all the time.
You are pushing for a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program.
Yes.
Every American will be covered.
Yep.
And private insurance would be eliminated because you wouldn't need it anymore because you'd have, basically, Medicare as it exists now.
Yep.
Why do you think the current system that we have, the Obamacare system, is lacking?
All right.
Let's talk for...
Thank you for that question.
And let's talk about what goes on right now.
First of all, I want everybody to understand that we are spending today twice as much money per person on healthcare as do the people of other industrialized countries.
So, what are we getting for this huge amount of money?
What we're getting is 87 million Americans who are either uninsured or underinsured.
And what that means, most importantly, is you do not go to the doctor when you should.
You are sick, but you're saying, I can't afford the deductible.
I can't afford the copayment.
And the result of that is that 30,000 Americans die every single year because they don't go to the doctor when they should.
Second of all, because so many people don't have doctors, they get their primary care through an emergency room, which happens to be the most expensive form of primary health care imaginable.
Thirdly, and this is really quite amazing, in this country, every single year, 500,000 people go bankrupt because of their medical bills.
And that is, in my mind, barbaric.
So let me, doctor, be very frank with you and tell you what the function of the current healthcare system is.
Everybody knows it.
The function of the current healthcare system is to make huge profits for the insurance companies and for the drug companies.
Last month, I was in Detroit, Michigan.
And I went across the border into Windsor, Ontario to buy insulin with a group of people who were diabetic.
Anybody want to guess what the difference in price for insulin was in Canada compared to the United States?
It was one-tenth the price.
So what does the Medicare for All Single-Payer Systems do?
We do a couple of things.
First of all, we say we're going to expand Medicare to cover dental care, which is a big deal, not covered, hearing aids and eyeglasses.
Second of all, is that right?
And because we are going to take on the pharmaceutical industry and because we are going to negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry and lower drug costs in America, nobody in America will have to pay more than $200 a year for the prescription drugs that they need.
So let me ask you the question, if it can be pulled off, I should point out that about half the doctors in America support Medicare for all.
Right.
So it's a concept that's grown a lot among providers.
Nurses roughly same percentage support.
And do you know why, doctor?
I think you probably do know why doctors do it.
Well, for two reasons.
People go into medicine because they want to cure people's illness.
They want to keep people healthy.
And they are sick and tired of arguing with insurance companies about the type of therapy that they can provide.
And they're saying, we want to treat patients the way we know that they need to be treated.
And that's what Medicare for All will do.
Okay.
We'll be back with more from our first ever candidate checkup with Senator Bernie Sanders.
We have five really tough health questions.
You ready to go?
Let's go.
Hi Bernie, my name is Mira and I'm eight years old.
I want to know if you're a good eater with fruits and vegetables, and if your parents make, do you eat them a lot?
Yes they did, and I try my best to eat my fruits and vegetables.
We're back with our first ever candidate checkup.
One-on-one with Senator Bernie Sanders.
So, if elected president, and you were still unable to pass Medicare for all, what would you accept as a compromise?
Well, a good compromise, I want to do this in four years.
And I think we can.
That is not a radical idea.
But at least let us agree that in the first year, we go from 65 to 55, and we expand coverage to include dental care, hearing aids, and eyeglasses.
Let me ask you a question that expands this.
Let's transition from the cost of healthcare to the root of the problem, which is that Americans are unhealthy.
I personally believe, and again, still practice medicine, that if we make America healthier, any plan will work.
So we right now have a system where 10 foods drive probably half of the major illnesses we have.
So is there a Sanders nutrition plan for the country?
There is.
I mean, only in this sense.
And, you know, you raised a very profound issue.
So we have companies making billions of dollars a year pushing products on children, for God's sakes, which everybody knows is unhealthy.
And I think what you need is a government to stand up and be very loud and clear.
To the American people.
And work with the American people to not only help us move to good nutrition practices, but also to good work practices.
You know, we have people in this country right now who have virtually no vacation time at all.
We want to make sure that people have the time to exercise.
That's a good investment.
It'll cost you some money, but if you keep people healthy, you save money.
We've got to do a much better job.
In terms of keeping people away from addictions, like tobacco, alcohol, opioids.
This is an amazing fact.
I mean, it's a sad fact.
People feel so hopeless about the economic future, about what's happening to their kids.
They drink too much, they get involved with opioids or other drugs, and in some cases actually commit suicide.
So, healthcare is not just healthcare.
It's how we live, it's the hope, the optimism, it's our community, it's our family.
Those are issues we've got to work on.
How does technology play a role in improving healthcare, making it more efficient, making it more transparent?
We have great companies like Sharecare and Microsoft, and Amazon's even got some efforts here, promising to allow people in their hands, on their cell phones, to have all their information, be smart about using it, get reminded, basically get coached in your pocket.
How do we support those initiatives?
It's hard to grow big enough to get enough people to play the ball.
That's very important.
I'll give you one example where we are making some progress, especially in rural areas.
The VA, and I was the former chairman of the Veterans Administration Committee in the Senate.
And what they do is they do a lot of telehealth stuff.
So, for example, if somebody needs psychiatric care, and they're living out in a rural area, there aren't a lot of psychiatrists, you will have somebody on a teleconference with that person.
So there are a lot of technologies I think we can utilize to improve people's health in this country, no question about it.
Let me transition to an area that's become a health issue.
There's been 289 mass shootings already in this year alone.
And the divide right now politically appears to be between those who feel this is a gun control issue and those who feel it's a mental health issue.
How do you walk that line?
Let me respectfully disagree with you.
That's not the divide.
The divide is between those who are intimidated by the NRA and those who are not intimidated by the NRA. That's what it's about.
And what the NRA says, I'm sorry to have to be so blunt, but that's what it's about.
This is not a philosophical debate.
We have a mental health crisis in this country.
There's no question about that.
But we also have 300 million guns on the streets of America.
We have more than 10 million assault weapons on the streets of America.
And you're not going to get a handle, in my view, on ending this horrific series of of mass shootings unless we deal with the gun issue.
And here is the good news.
The American people now believe that we need strong gun safety legislation.
That's what the American people believe.
19 of the 50 states have red flag laws that allow Loved ones or just acquaintances to say, hey, there's something wrong with that person.
Let's check on them.
What would it take for us to just make that mandatory across the country?
I haven't run into anybody on either side of the aisle who thinks that's not a smart idea, at least for now.
And we know we could have saved some mass killings by enabling this process.
Well, look, I mean, that is what we have got to do.
What I am suggesting to you, what I'm telling you as a United States senator, There is widespread agreement on that issue, red flag issue, and other issues.
All right, we'll be back with more from our first ever candidate checkup with Senator Bernie Sanders.
We're back one-on-one with Senator Bernie Sanders, who's kicking off our candidate checkups.
So, you guys spend a lot of time talking about things that are uncomfortable with people, causes a fair amount of stress when you're around.
Yep.
So you have tactics that you've used to de-stress you.
I understand that your grandkids are a big part of that.
They are.
And you shoot hoops.
You've taught them, I understand, to shoot hoops a certain amount.
But when I was a kid, I was a fairly good basketball player.
How good?
Well, the team that I was on when I was in elementary school here in New York City, we won the Borough Championship.
Come show us what you did.
Come on over here.
We brought you your own basketball hoop.
But you know, number one, let me be clear, that was a few years ago.
Number two, I usually didn't play with a sport jacket on in front of a television camera.
Mostly, it was in a schoolyard shooting hoops.
Well, we'll recreate it.
I'll let you shoot.
I'll play defense.
I played in the NBA slavery game this year.
You did.
All right.
Well, you're too good for me.
No, I'm not too.
All right.
Oh, he makes the move inside.
I'm going to push your ass here.
All right.
Bernie Sanders!
Thank you.
First ever candidate checkup.
Thank you very much.
Good luck to you.
God bless you.
Ball is yours.
We'll be right back.
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I had two concussions.
In season 11, you're bringing the power.
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I think I know a liar.
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Desperate parents are poisoning their children with bleach.
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You better get moving.
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Now I invite all of you out there to become part of my show this season to celebrate the power of one.
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