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Morning Briefing

Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

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Tuesday, Oct 8 2019

Full Issue

What Will Sanders' Heart Attack Mean For Already-Sore Subject Of Age In Presidential Race?

Three of the Democrats' leading 2020 contenders, as well as President Donald Trump, are in their 70s. Following Sen. Bernie Sanders' heart attack, the question of "how old is too old to be president" could once again be thrust in the spotlight.

The Wall Street Journal: Sanders’s Heart Attack Brings Age To 2020 Forefront

Bernie Sanders’s recent heart attack and hospitalization are bringing to the forefront an issue the Democratic party’s three leading presidential candidates have actively tried to minimize: their age. At 78, the Vermont senator is the oldest in the party’s field. Former Vice President Joe Biden is 76, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is 70. All three—who have consistently occupied the trio of top slots in public polls of the Democratic contest—are much older than the median age of about 55 years for a U.S. president at inauguration. They are competing to face President Trump, who is 73. (Parti, 10/7)

Politico: Sanders Heart Attack Casts Cloud Over His Candidacy

Bernie Sanders has been sidelined for nearly a week — after failing for almost three days to disclose that he had a heart attack. It's unclear when the 78-year-old senator will return to the stump. His campaign has yet to divulge the severity of his heart attack. And that sequence of events unfolded as he's been eclipsed in the polls by the other progressive icon in the race, Elizabeth Warren. (Otterbein and Siders, 10/7)

CNN: How Bernie Sanders' Heart Attack Changes The 2020 Race

Bernie Sanders' heart attack suffered on the campaign trail last week thrusts a tough issue to the front of the 2020 presidential race: How old is too old to be president? Sanders is the obvious focus of that question, after having two stents placed into an artery following a campaign appearance in Nevada -- and being forced to pull out of a CNN-sponsored town hall on LGBT issues in California later this week. But he's not the only candidate in the Democratic field who will be affected by Sanders' heart attack in the race. (Cillizza, 10/7)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
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