Statin question: If the Senators have access to the best health care, why wasn't Lindsey getting care

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11. As for statins, here's my understanding (I just started taking them)

They aren't magic, but they're hardly useless. They lower the "bad" cholesterol, making the formation of new arterial plaques less likely. You are correct that they don't clear out existing plaques, but they're do gradually change their structure in a way that makes them harder to break apart - i.e., less likely to cause an embolism that least to a stroke.

They do have potential side effects, and while the general consensus is that it's a no-brainer to take them if you have high cholesterol and/or atherosclerosis, they may not be appropriate for everyone.

And as others have noted, cholesterol/atherosclerosis/statins may not even be relevant to this case in particular.

Finally, if you live long enough, you *will* get hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis). The incidence by age 65 is 100%. Maybe there's some rounding error of seniors without it.

I've had zero symptoms, it showed up on a CT scan while investigating a kidney stone episode. Age 62. Docs said it's completely normal but my cholesterol was a bit over last test, hence the statins.