As he battles stage four pancreatic cancer, former Sen. Ben Sasse took questions at a CBS News Things That Matter town hall about his health, American health care, the state of the country, faith and mortality. Highlights from six audience questions:
1) Experimental drugs, access and Right to Try
Sasse said he believes in more experimentation in medicine, not fewer rules. He described severe side effects from a drug that has helped him and said patients should have more decentralized control — letting patients and their doctors decide how much risk to accept rather than one-size-fits-all FDA restrictions. He argued that more experiments will, over time, improve outcomes for diseases like pancreatic cancer, where survival is low, and called for opening access so more people can try promising treatments. He acknowledged the work of FDA staff but urged loosening federal bottlenecks to increase the number of clinical trials and individualized choices.
2) Caring for people without family or resources
Asked about the collapse of community and care for those without family, Sasse said he supports a social safety net but is skeptical of a homogenized Washington solution. He favors empowering governors and state legislatures through block grants so states can experiment with different models — community care, aging in place, and thicker local support networks. He argued that decentralized experimentation by states is preferable to a single, uniform federal approach and would allow better, varied responses to needs like Alzheimer’s care.
3) Faith in politics — where to draw the line
Sasse explained his view as shaped by the distinction between the “kingdom of the right hand” (civil, secular order) and explicit revealed theology. He said government’s purpose is to maintain order, protect life and liberty, and create space for freedom of religion, not to enforce theology. He condemned using the state to accomplish theological ends and said he doesn’t view geopolitical events as literal divine directives. Instead, he believes public servants should minimize violence and maximize order, liberty and human rights, advocating for a U.S. approach that supports open navigation, commerce and religious freedom without claiming eternal political entitlement.
4) How facing pain and loss has changed his prayer
Sasse described becoming more emotional and open about dependence since his diagnosis. He said he cries more easily and feels humbled by physical fragility. Quoting pastor Tim Keller, who died of pancreatic cancer, Sasse said the disease has taught him new prayers and a deeper sense of finitude and dependence on God. He called that humbling a blessing: recognizing human dependence is true and freeing, and it has sharpened his spiritual life and gratitude for relationships and ordinary joys.
5) How he wants his children to remember him
If he strips away titles and career achievements, Sasse said he hopes to be remembered as someone grateful for blessings and willing to repent daily, acknowledging brokenness and finitude. The titles that matter most to him are relational: husband, dad, son, friend, neighbor. He emphasized that work titles matter less than being present and faithful in relationships, and he called himself “a sinner who’s been redeemed” as his most essential identity.
6) What citizens can do to set America on a better course
Sasse warned that the coming intelligence tools will put vast data and analysis in everyone’s pockets, but information alone is not the same as the social structures that help people learn and flourish. He urged rebuilding “thick” community — extended kin networks, workplaces, places of worship and neighbors who break bread together. He said the most important world is where families raise children, comfort one another and form dense local communities. Rather than seeking meaning only in distant events or through screens, he urged investing in local relationships and civic institutions that produce mutual support and social capital. He argued that while technology expands access to information, it increases the need for community structures that help people process and use that information well.
Across his answers Sasse stressed more experimentation — in science and in governance — and greater local responsibility and connection. He framed government as a vital but time-limited tool whose chief task is to preserve order and liberty, while urging Americans to revive the small-scale communities that sustain daily life.