Meet the heart attack survivor in Ohio who supports Bernie Sanders' audaciously bold healthcare plan

'My bill was $34,000. My insurance paid $7,000 of that,' says the former McDonald's employee

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Linda Hansen takes my call from a parking lot in Mount Sterling, Ohio, while she’s waiting for her neighbor to receive his chemotherapy treatment. Bringing him to and from his appointments has become a daily routine for Hansen, and she doesn’t seem to mind it: the wait gives her time to do things, like grocery shopping, running errands, or — on this one occasion — speaking to a reporter.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the American healthcare system — specifically, its soaring costs and the financial chokehold it has over many citizens — is one of the most critical issues for Hansen in the upcoming presidential election. She recalls receiving a bill from the hospital after suffering a heart attack, saying: “I had insurance … I got my bill, and I was only in the hospital for two days, went in Wednesday evening and discharged Friday, my bill was $34,000. My insurance paid $7,000 of that, I was stuck with the rest.”

Hansen was working at McDonald’s at the time, which provided her with health insurance but nowhere near enough money to afford taking on such a massive, unexpected charge.

(Photo courtesy Linda Hansen (Photo courtesy Linda Hansen)

“I went into debt,” she says, noting the impact it’s had on her credit score and, in turn, her ability to take out a loan and recover.

Hansen also tells me she worries her neighbor is soon going to incur those same charges from his chemotherapy appointments.

“He was just diagnosed back in late November, early December, so I can just imagine when he starts actually getting these bills,” she says. “Cancer treatment is not cheap.”

That’s why she supports Bernie Sanders. The Vermont Senator introduced a Medicare-for-All proposal that would significantly alter the nation’s $3.5 trillion health insurance industry, covering all expenses for primary and preventive care, as well as prescription drugs, maternity care and more.

Under the 2020 hopeful’s bill, which has been signed by 14 Senate co-sponsors despite not having any current chance of passing, Americans would be allowed to see any doctor of their choice without copays or deductibles. Hansen likes that about the plan: it’s audaciously bold.

“Bernie’s not talking about public options, or keeping it open for someone who doesn’t want to buy in on it to keep their private insurance,” she says. “Medicare-for-All under Bernie’s proposal means no premiums coming out of your paychecks, no deductibles that you have to meet, no copays.”

Hansen seems to genuinely believe in Sanders’ fundamental campaign message that healthcare is a human right. At a rally the Senator held in Queens during the summer, he asked his supporters to shake hands with a stranger next to them, then asked: "Are you willing to fight for that person who you don’t even know as much as you’re willing to fight for yourself?"

(Getty Images (Getty Images)

He added: "Are you willing to stand together and fight for those people who are struggling economically in this country?"

As we speak, and Hansen awaits her neighbour during his treatment, it becomes clear how deeply the Senator’s message resonates with her.

Though some commentators have said the Senator’s vision for universal healthcare across the US is far too progressive to succeed in a general election, it has inspired at least one Mount Sterling, Ohio voter to donate on multiple occasions to his presidential campaign, both in 2016 and again in 2020.

The only question now is whether Sanders can successfully win the Democratic nomination in a crowded field, and take his and Hansen's vision for the country to the White House.