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Vice President Kamala Harris had an appendectomy when she was three. She is up-to-date on preventative care screenings, like colonoscopies and mammograms. She has managed seasonal allergies and sporadic skin reactions with a nasal spray and Claritin, and she treats mild nearsightedness with contact lenses. At her most recent physical in April, Harris had a normal blood pressure reading of 128/74 mmHg; her heart rate was a healthy 78 beats per minute.
These findings are “unremarkable,” as her physician, Dr. Joshua Simmons put it in a memo the White House released Saturday. In another words: normal. As is the practice of a presidential candidate allowing their personal health information be made available to the public.
Trump said he would “very gladly” share his recent medical information publicly, but has not yet done so.
Donald Trump, who at 78 is nearly 20 years older than Harris, hasn’t been nearly as forthcoming. In August, he told CBS News he would “very gladly” share his recent medical information publicly, but has not yet done so. The last time he released substantive details about his health was nearly seven years ago, at which point a memo from his physician said he had high cholesterol, a benign skin condition called rosacea, and was “overweight,” as measured by the standardized Body Mass Index (BMI) scale. The next year, the President released more limited health vitals that tipped the scale into the BMI category of “obese,” which correlates with a higher risk of heart disease and type-2 diabetes.
When Trump’s ear was injured in an assassination attempt over the summer, his campaign did not release medical records or provide a briefing. The most recent documentation of any sorts is from late 2023, at which point Trump shared a three-paragraph letter from his physician on Truth Social, stating his physical exams were “well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional.”
This isn’t the first time he’s obfuscated his physical health. In 2020, when Trump was hospitalized with Covid, his administration insisted he was on an “upswing.” The New York Times later reported that he was much sicker than his inner circle had let on: His blood oxygen levels had dropped to dangerous levels, the Times said, and officials worried he might have needed to be put on a ventilator.
Trump’s late physician, Dr. Harold N. Bornstein, said in 2015 that Trump would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”
Today, that part is unlikely—especially without medical proof to back it up. But since Joe Biden dropped out of the race, former president Trump now claims a different superlative: oldest-ever presidential nominee.
