I like that metaphor.

yes, cg- however it is a point of interest on the road map

All of this discussion should remind us we have to think for ourselves. I don't tolerate intrusive questions, but I'm not incensed by it. I'm on top of things. People need to be on top of things. You can't trust, doctors, the insurance companies, the gov't, AMA and American Academy of Pediatrics to handle things. You have to dig in a little. When it doubt, you have to follow the footnotes on claims, and at least read the abstract to make sure someone's not speaking from their own agenda. Sometimes they are. This is not a huge disaster. It's an unfortunate fact of life.

You hardly know me except for my name from my old screenname. Why don't we trade contact info you want to take cheep shots at me so we at least know who we're dealing with?

I don't buy into the whole liberal/conservative thing anyway, so I'm not either one. I actually had two good conversations in person with my congresswoman and a several conversations with her staff regarding making PPACA less restrictive. The outlawing of HSAs was stricken shortly after I asked her "why are you for tax deductions to send money to corporations but not to your own bank account?"

This was in my spare time when I'm doing electronics. For me, policy is just an avocation, civic duty, and something to talk about at fundraisers, not a job.

Still it's possible I did more to limit PPACA than you did.

This isn't the forum for this. Send me your info, and I will talk on the phone, or if you're in my area a coffee shop, or the next networking event. Otherwise this ad hominem stuff is meaningless.

Does this only affect people who are using insurance? I wouldn't use insurance for a routine test. We only have insurance to protect our wealth against some unlikely series of treatments that would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Any time you use "insurance" to pay for routine costs, the insurance company starts getting involved. We knew someone having baby the same time we were. They had one of those high-premium plans that hold your hand and pay for everything. We had a cheap plan and just paid for the pregnancy costs. We had many more options b/c it was between us and the provider with no insurance company butting in. I hope PPACA doesn't start butting into our cash purchases. Almost all our purchases our cash, and once we have enough wealth in self-insure they all will be; we'll just keep minimal insurance as required by law. I don't think PPACA will intercede, but I wouldn't put it past the gov't.

When my daughter was in highschool, she had to have a physical exam to be able to participate in school sports. Since she was spending the day with her grandmother on the day of her exam appointment, her grandmother offered to take her to the pediatrician. I picked her up from her Grandma's house that evening, and as we rode home, she said that the doctor had asked her if there were guns in the house. A asked her what her answer was and she told the truth; "yes". I assured her that she was not in any trouble for being truthful. However!! The next day I calmly walked into the doctor's office and told them that my daughter was not sure if she had answered all of the "Have you had this disease", or "have you had that shot etc." questions correctly, and asked to see the sheest that were filled out so that I could be sure that her medical records were filled out correctly. They handed me one sheet that had all of the medical questions but nothing about gun in the home. I asked if there was another sheet, and they produce it. Sure enough, there was the question "Are there any guns in your home?" I called the secretary back over to the window and as she watched, I folded up the sheet and put it in my hip pocket and told she would not get it back, and I walk out. They were not happy, but then, neither was I. Think about it, this local pediatrician office has records of hundreds of people in our community that own guns.

These are all typical required questions now that we have entered into the era of Government healthcare. As someone else mentioned there is a financial incentive for Physicians etc. to comply with "Meaningful Use" requirements of the new electronic health records system. Believe me most want nothing to do with this line of questioning but if they do not as then they will not comply with "Meaningful Use" and they will be penalized at minimum 2% on all of their payments by CMS in 2016 and beyond and the penalty goes up latter. Physicians by and large have been vocal about this for the past 5 years but the complaints seemed to fall on deaf ears. Now hopefully the anger from the public will reach critical mass SOON and everyone will start to demand change. This is only the beginning as there are many more of these regulations being released on a schedule over the next 2-3 years. I am one of those Physicians and I am sick and tire of it.

This is Obamacare a work...

I am flabbergasted that the father would agree to leave his child in the room alone with the doctor. The doctor would have to give me some very good reasons before I would allow it and I can't imagine what those reasons would be.

As for a dr asking me directly about gun ownership, I would have answered my previous Dr but I don't know my current one well enough. Again, I would ask why he wanted to know and most likely end up telling him it was none of his business.

Better - instead of thinking of it as separate, something to abhor, make very clear in your mind YOU ARE THE GOVERNMENT. Understand it, fully.

I can have cancer, but pretending it's separate from me doesn't help me understand and deal with it. Take action, ethically, legally. Now to go follow my own advice... .

Thanks, Mckenziecalhoun, for a fine post. "I do not
fear this government. Fear blinds you." Great words
to be remembered. I abhor this administration as well as a few before this one.

Wow...my dentist would be in for some steamy stories....LOL

Thank you for that affirmation. +1

I am an MD --- the. other comments are correct: never leave your child alone unless very unusual circumstance & you know & trust your physician completely. Jim

I can not say first hand if that was asked. It was supposedly one of many such types of 'non-medical' questions asked, that I heard reported, or read about.- I can't think of where it was. I didn't get the sense it was a questionable source - but, then again, who can anyone trust anymore.

Is there any difference? I somewhat understand a pediatrician asking about touching. Asking about guns, sex-thoughts. I'm sure it extends to asking, if parents are smoking in the house, drinking. this info is used to generate profiles. IF we had trust in our government that this info was secure and being used to actually help us, and improve our lives, that may be ok. Had we not learned of the extent of the NSA - we might not be concerned about this at all.
With Identity theft, and personal info being hacked. Could potential employers find this information?
As for asking about touching - that's as close to assuming someone is guilty until proven innocent.

The State shouldn't be involved in it. Simple as that.

The doctor though, eh... now he can't force it, but he could ask it given the opportunity

what are you talking about? republican doctors like that stuff addressed at home ;)

robert-
I don't think it is one of the questions on the application.
It is a question pediatricians can ask of their children patients

The problem is that unless they suspect abuse, they have no business asking in the first place - no probable cause if you want to call it that.

The problem with this is the mentality that one is guilty until proven innocent and that the State gets to decide who is innocent. That smacks of authoritarianism.

There is a financial incentive for medical providers and, especially school nurses and "social workers" to create these issues at the slightest pretense, real or not. Some of them truly believe that your child will be better off being raised by the Village and see this as their moral mission. The fact that it pays financially is always a bonus... From the viewpoint of the government, your children's wellbeing is irrelevant; what is relevant is the fact that neighbor spies on neighbor, thus making everyone afraid. When people are afraid, they are easier to rule. Nothing new here; tyrannical regimes have been using this method for centuries. Again, Obama is not being unprecedented.
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