Former Vice President Dick Cheney brushed aside NBC host Savannah Guthrie's suggestion that he was a "living, breathing example of government investment" Monday on Today due to the development of the pump, telling her that a heart donor and private initiative that led to the invention of his stent were instrumental to his survival.
Cheney was on the program to discuss his new book, "Heart: An American Medical Odyssey," detailing his struggles with cardiovascular disease and how those issues overlapped with key moments in his political career.
Likely prompted by the current political context of Obamacare's disastrous rollout and the ongoing debate over what, if any, role government should play in American health care, Guthrie brought up the pump Cheney used before he had a transplant. Cheney countered by telling her that the stent he used, a small scaffolding device that is placed inside blood vessels around the heart, was developed through private innovation without government interference.
"Sure, but there's also the stent which was developed by two docs who got together with an investor, came up with the stent, got the patent, sold it to Johnson & Johnson," Cheney said. "It saved millions of lives. So that was private initiative. Government wasn't involved."
He added he was grateful to the donor for his transplant and that the U.S. needed to encourage more people to be donors going forward:
Full exchange:
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Actually, one of the things your cardiologist writes about is some of this technology that ultimately led to the pump that kept you alive, before you could have the transplant, started in 1964 with government funding. So you can look at it as you're a living, breathing example of government investment.
DICK CHENEY: Sure, but there's also the stent which was developed by two docs who got together with an investor, came up with the stent, got the patent, sold it to Johnson & Johnson. It saved millions of lives. So that was private initiative. Government wasn't involved. The other thing I guess I need to emphasize, talk about, is the donor. It's so important. I wouldn't be here today without a donor and the donor's family. We badly need to encourage people to become donors, and it's enormously important in terms of progress going forward.
[H/T John Celock]