Sean Conley, the White House physician, cited the HIPAA privacy law to explain why he wouldn’t share certain details of President Trump’s Covid-19 case. | Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

HIPAA protects every patient’s privacy, including Trump’s. But he seems to be using it for political advantage.

White House physician Sean Conley had a ready explanation on Monday for why he couldn’t share certain information about President Donald Trump’s Covid-19 case with reporters or the public: HIPAA.

Those five letters (typically pronounced hip-pah) stand for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a 1996 federal law meant to protect medical patients’ privacy. When reporters asked the president’s attending physician whether chest scans had shown any damage to Trump’s lungs since he had contracted the coronavirus, Conley cited HIPAA to deflect the question.

“There are HIPAA rules and regulations that restrict me