80-Year-Old Biden Completes Last Annual Medical Checkup Before 2024 Campaign
Joe Biden, at 80 the oldest man ever to be US president, spent the morning Thursday completing an annual medical checkup that political allies hope will give him the all clear to run for a second term in 2024.
Biden left the White House by helicopter for Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, a complex in the Washington suburbs that has a special facility for treatment of presidents.
He has not declared a reelection bid but is widely expected to do so soon, with the campaign starting to heat up. On the Republican side, so far the frontrunner is former president Donald Trump, whom Biden beat in the tumultuous 2020 election.
Results from the medical checkup — some portions of which were done in an earlier session last year — are expected on Thursday.
“Later today, the White House will publicly release a written summary of the president’s physical,” a spokesman said.
After Biden’s last checkup in November 2021, presidential physician Kevin O’Connor issued a memorandum declaring Biden “healthy, vigorous,” and fit to do his job, although prone to increased coughing and growing stiffness while walking.
Both those issues are noticeable daily during Biden’s public interactions, but the octogenarian leader has otherwise managed to maintain a full schedule in the grueling job, overseeing mass Covid vaccinations, the Western response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, and so far steering the US economy clear of recession.
While routine, Thursday’s physical is being closely watched, with Democratic leaders insisting they will stand behind Biden if he runs again, but polls showing little enthusiasm from their voters.
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