HOUSTON — Joe Biden promised to disclose his medical history before Democratic primary voters gather for the Iowa caucuses next February.
“Before there’s a first vote, I’ll release my medical records. There is no reason for me not to release my medical records,” the former vice president told reporters on Friday at Texas Southern University in Houston.
“What are the concerns? Man, want to wrestle?” he joked with the press, downplaying questions about his health.
Biden, 76, hasn’t disclosed his medical history since 2008, when doctors found he had an irregular heartbeat.
In 1988, he suffered an aneurysm that burst and required him to undergo emergency surgery. Months later, surgeons addressed a second aneurysm before it burst. He suffers from asthma and allergies, takes a prescription drug to lower his cholesterol, and has taken medication for an enlarged prostate. Doctors also removed a benign polyp during a colonoscopy in 1996, and in 2003, he had his gallbladder removed.
Biden added on Friday he was confident he had the stamina for future debates, despite fellow presidential candidates seeking the 2020 Democratic nomination making veiled references to his age at Thursday night’s third round. Obama administration-era housing secretary Julián Castro has been criticized for asking whether the former vice president had forgotten what he said earlier in the almost three-hour program.
“Sure it is,” Biden said when asked whether queries about his age were fair.
Biden last week caught attention online after a blood vessel appeared to burst in his left eye while participating in CNN’s town hall on climate change. He has additionally raised eyebrows for the increasing number of verbal blunders he has made so far on the 2020 campaign trail, the schedule of which has been markedly lighter than his main rivals.
