Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden's Neurological Exams Were Just Routine, White House Doctor Says
The White House physician says a neurological specialist has only visited President Biden as part of routine physicals, following questions about Biden鈥檚 fitness for office. Other visits by the specialist to the White House were to treat military personnel who experience neurological issues related to their service, the White House physician added in a letter issued on Monday. (7/8)
An expert on Parkinson鈥檚 disease from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center visited the White House eight times in eight months from last summer through this spring, including at least once for a meeting with President Biden鈥檚 physician, according to official visitor logs. The expert, Dr. Kevin Cannard, is a neurologist who specializes in movement disorders and recently published a paper on Parkinson鈥檚. The logs, released by the White House, document visits from July 2023 through March of this year. More recent visits, if there have been any, would not be released until later under the White House鈥檚 voluntary disclosure policy. (Baumgaertner and Baker, 7/8)
President Joe Biden is leaning on the credibility of White House physician Kevin O鈥機onnor鈥檚 optimistic assessment of his health, but that physician is a family intimate and one-time business associate of the president鈥檚 brother. When Biden鈥檚 brother Jim was exploring a business venture aimed at securing Veterans Affairs contracts in 2017, O鈥機onnor introduced him to a military-focused medical team and accompanied him to a meeting with a hospital president. (Schreckinger, 7/8)
In related news 鈥�
Senior White House advisers for more than a year have aggressively stage-managed President Biden鈥檚 schedule, movements and personal interactions, as they sought to minimize signs of how age has taken a toll on the oldest president in U.S. history. The White House has limited Biden鈥檚 daily itinerary and shielded him from impromptu exchanges. Advisers have restricted news conferences and media appearances, twice declining Super Bowl halftime interviews鈥攁n easy way to reach millions of voters鈥攁nd sought to make sure meetings with donors stuck to scripted pleasantries.聽 (Restuccia, Linskey, Glazer, Ballhaus and Schwartzel, 7/8)
Perhaps nowhere are President Biden鈥檚 senior moments hitting closer to home than in places like RiverWalk, a community that skews older in snowbird-friendly Palm Beach County, Florida. The neighborhood is built around the idea that getting old doesn鈥檛 mean staying still. Many of the residents keep a busy calendar well into their 80s. And they reject the idea that there should be an age limit for running the country. (Rozsa, 7/8)