Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Presidential Physicals: There's No Template For What Information Is Released
President Trump is a commander in chief who fuels himself with a steady stream of Diet Cokes, scoops of vanilla ice cream and slabs of red meat. He gets as little as five hours of sleep a night. He is not known to exercise more than the brief strolls beyond his cart on the golf course. This, he and his aides have maintained, is the very picture of presidential stamina. On Friday, Mr. Trump, 71, will undergo his first comprehensive physical examination as president, and the first formal check on his former doctor鈥檚 Trumpian 2015 campaign claim that he鈥檇 be the 鈥渉ealthiest individual ever elected鈥 to the office. (Rogers and Altman, 1/9)
Trump raised concern last month when he slurred some words on national TV. When asked about it, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said questions about Trump's health were "frankly, pretty ridiculous" and blamed his slurred speech on a dry throat, "nothing more than that." More questions have been raised in the weeks since, given the tone of some of his tweets and the reported comments of some of the people who deal with him day to day. (Superville, 1/9)