Politics

Sanders ‘Adamant’ That His Campaign Staffers Retain Health Benefits Through November

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Staffers for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’s now-suspended presidential campaign will retain their health insurance benefits through November.

Former Sanders campaign supervising producer Sara Pearl tweeted Thursday that Sanders was “adamant” that his campaign staff keeps their health insurance even though they are no longer employed by the campaign.

thankful to Bernie who we just found out was adamant his entire campaign staff stays on our health insurance through November so yay I still have health care but health insurance shouldn’t be tied to your job!!!!!!!!

— Sara Pearl (@skenigsberg) April 9, 2020

A Sanders spokesman confirmed that the former campaign staffers would receive health care coverage through November, CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski tweeted.

“Bernie is going to keep every single staff member on their healthcare through November,” Sanders campaign organizing director Jack Califano tweeted Thursday. “We’re all crying. I am so proud to work for this man.”

Sanders suspended his presidential campaign on Wednesday following a primary in Wisconsin. The results for Wisconsin’s primary aren’t expected to come in until Monday.

The move by Sanders is in stark contrast to his former competitor, Mike Bloomberg, who is facing at least two class-action lawsuits from his former campaign staffers alleging that they were recruited to work on the former New York Mayor’s presidential campaign under false pretenses.

Bloomberg, who has an estimated net worth of $51.2 billion, hired thousands of staffers for his presidential campaign on promises that they would be paid through November regardless if he won the Democratic nomination.

Bloomberg pumped $935 million of his fortune into his campaign.

But many Bloomberg staffers lost their jobs when the billionaire announced shortly after he dropped out of the race on March 4 that he would be forming a super PAC to help defeat President Donald Trump in November.

And on March 20, as the coronavirus pandemic began wreaking havoc on the American economy, Bloomberg announced he was scrapping his super PAC and instead would be transferring $18 million in leftover campaign funds to the Democratic National Committee.

Some 1,500 former Bloomberg campaign staffers were informed via conference call that they were out of a job and were encouraged to apply for employment with the DNC, The New York Times reported.