Sex, drugs and ObamaCare: Doctor questions get personal

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Published December 20, 2015

Thanks to new regulations that are part of the federal Affordable Care Act, patients will be asked to disclose more personal information to their doctors -- including how often they have sex and how with how many sexual partners.

And once they do, it won't really be personal information any more.

One provision of the new ObamaCare law will have doctors asking their patients about their sex lives and history of drug use, even if such information is completely unrelated to why the patient is seeking medical treatment, according to a report in Monday's New York Post.

Christina Sandefur, a lawyer for the Goldwater Institute, an Arizona-based conservative think tank challenging the Affordable Care Act in federal court, said the arrangement is a violation of patients' privacy rights.

"Once you've shared your information with a private third party, the Supreme Court has ruled that is fair game for the government," she told Watchdog.org, noting the recent disclosures of data sharing between the National Security Agency and Google, Facebook and other online services.

Doctors and hospitals who refuse to participate could be cut-off from some federal funds, and individuals who decline to share sensitive information may have to pay the fines -- taxes, according to the Supreme Court -- outlined in the federal health care law.

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URL

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/sex-drugs-and-obamacare-doctor-questions-get-personal