White House Medical Unit

The White House Medical Unit (WHMU) is a unit of the White House Military Office and is responsible for the medical needs of White House staff and visitors. The unit also provides medical care to the President, the Vice President, their families, and international dignitaries visiting the White House.

The WHMU is led by a Director, who typically also serves as the Physician to the President. The Physician to the President is chosen personally by the President, while the Director is formally chosen by the Director of the White House Military Office. Since July 2013, the Physician to the President has been Navy Captain (later Rear Admiral) Ronny L. Jackson.

The medical unit includes active-duty military physicians as well as several physician assistants, registered nurses, and medics, and support staff including an administrator and a medical information technology manager. Under implementing guidelines for the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the WHMU Director is the primary official responsible for advising the President's Cabinet on the ability of the President of the United States to discharge the powers and duties of the office. The final decision, however, rests with the Cabinet as a political, not a medical, decision. The WHMU provides free healthcare to the President, Vice President, and their immediate families, who are eligible for medical care at American military hospitals anywhere in the world. Inpatient medical care at American military hospitals is usually covered by the President or Vice President's personal health insurance.

In addition to direct care duties as outlined above, the WHMU is responsible for all medical contingency planning for the White House and its key personnel. This includes preparing for every presidential or vice presidential trip by developing medical contingency plans, including the identification of hospitals and other facilities at which medical care could be provided. The goal is to ensure that the president is never more than 20 minutes away from a hospital with Level 1 trauma center. If this is not possible, the WHMU ensures that a military helicopter is nearby, kept in instant readiness to evacuate the president to an appropriate hospital.

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