Cassidy says lawmaker health records should be mandatory

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said Sunday that lawmaker health records should be mandatory disclosures amid recent health scares in Congress.

“I would be okay with that. I think if you want to be the president of the United States, or a senator, or a House member, then there is a responsibility over and above that of just offering yourself,” Cassidy said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” of requiring medical records to be disclosed. “It has to be that you can show that you have clarity. Now, we could define what that means.”

He said that handing over health records should “certainly” be a House rule. He also said that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) handled his latest medical issue “perfectly” after he froze for the second time while taking questions from reporters last month.

“By the way, I think Mitch McConnell’s handled it perfectly. His doctor is releasing not just the tests but the results of the tests,” he said. “And with that, there is a transparency that allows people to move beyond a number into, ‘What is actually the kind of science, if you will, the medical science, of how to evaluate?’. And I think that should be the standard that folks are held to, and I think he’s responded.”

McConnell’s office released a letter from Dr. Brian Monahan, the Capitol’s attending physician, Tuesday that outlined the results of his exam following the incident.

“There is no evidence that you have a seizure disorder or that you experienced a stroke, TIA or movement disorder such as Parkinson’s disease,” Monahan said.

When pressed by host Chuck Todd on whether that letter was full transparency, Cassidy said that receiving the results of medical tests “is a good start.”

“At some point, you have to say, ‘Okay, wait a second. He said he had an EEG, an MRI, a this, a that, a that, a this, and they’re all normal.’ That’s pretty good. Now, you may decide that the doctor is lying. But at some point, you have to have faith in somebody, and I think somebody who’s not out of politics, being honest, giving you the results of the tests is a good start,” he said.