Posted on 01/12/2026 2:59:09 PM PST by Olog-hai
Why is my doctor worried about my mortgage payments?
So I found myself wondering as I filled out a questionnaire before a recent primary-care visit.
Along with the usual prompts about my health, I encountered a series of questions related to my financial situation.
The form asked whether in the last 12 months I was unable to pay my mortgage or rent on time, and if I was “worried that my food would run out before I got the money to buy more.”
These questions weren’t an attempt to gauge whether I would pay my medical bill; they were part of a campaign driven by political activists out to justify socialist policies in the name of improving health care. […]
The questions I was asked reflect the activist obsession with what’s known as the “Social Determinants of Health.”
The way the argument goes, factors like income, education, neighborhood conditions, racism, access to transportation and so on heavily determine a patient’s health.
The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control repeatedly assert that these factors are major drivers of disparities in life expectancy, infant mortality, diabetes rates and cardiovascular disease across racial and socioeconomic groups.
But it’s not true: The framework is based on critical logical and empirical fallacies.
It confuses correlation with causation, while systematically downplaying or ignoring biological, behavioral and genetic variables that often have far more to do with differences in patient health outcomes.
But that’s what you’d expect from a notion that has nothing to do with medicine — and everything to do with politics. …
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Most don’t think of themselves that way but doctors are just hired help. Fire that one and hire another. It helps keep their ego in check when a paying customer tells them to pound sand to their face and walks out the door.
I never answered any of those irrelevant personal questions, just scrawled across the page, Everything’s just fine! And the nurse smiled back, no hassle.
However, I haven’t been back since all trust was killed in 2020. Being old, I am a prime target. Unfortunately the veterinarians are just as bad these days. At least in my city. Maybe the large animal vets are okay, but no personal experience for that group.
My doctor said I was still too fat. I told her she is too short and if she grew 8 more inches I’d lose 50 more pounds
Read as anal
I just had my Medicare wellness exam last week. I don’t recall that many questions, but when the PA got to shots and vaccines, I said no thanks. She didn’t push it.
I skip all those questions. I also skip the ones that ask “have you ever been angry or upset?” Or, “Do you sometimes feel sad?”
Those are gotcha questions and if you respond truthfully—with a “yes” of course — they will make a note in your chart that you suffer from depression.
Sounds like an anal exam rather than an annual exam.
My doctors or their nurses used to ask whether there were guns in my house. I refused to answer. They also wanted to know whether I felt safe in my home. I asked whether they asked men and then told them that I was a retired trial lawyer and I don’t feel unsafe anywhere. I think that they put those on my chart that is shared so they don’t ask me anymore.
Id only be upset if you don’t have second glass of port. I’m more concerned about proper hydration than being confused with spinetreebob.
“Why is my doctor worried about my mortgage payments?” I don’t know, does she want to perform a digital rectal exam to determine my prostate health?
Somehow or other, I’ve never been subjected to a Medicare wellness exam, though I’m now 70. They pester my wife sometimes to do a home wellness visit, which she always declines.
Atleast they have given up asking about firearms?
Oh. ANNUAL exam. I misread the headline. I already avoid going to the doctor despite all the old guy stuff going on with my 64 year old body. If I have to endure lectures on the benefits of Socialism while he’s......
just
.....no.
SOUNDS LIKE SOME OF THE QUESTIONS ON THE 2000 CENSUS LONG FORM.
I PUT NOYDB-—NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS ON ALL BUT THE HOW MANY & WHERE AT THE BEGINNING.
GOT BACK A NASTYGRAM WITH ANOTHER FORM.
IT IS STILL IN A FILE DRAWER SOMEWHERE
HA, good one! I never said that out loud, but it would be true, despite the sign on the front door.
My old 'family doctor' was a good guy; I got him to read Atlas Shrugged and to start 'prepping' a bit; he unfortunately retired about eight years ago... anyway he once asked me asked me about guns.... But it was to determine if I had anything for sale, because he was in the market.
Ours asked about guns and area rugs about 10 years ago. Those questions are gone now, probably because nobody ever answered them.
Area rugs???
I blame the medical boards of each state that controls who can get a license to practice.
CHEAPER & THEY ARE EVEN ONES THAT ARE “MOBILE” & MAKE HOUSE CALLS. MY HORSE VET CHARGES $30 FOR A RANCH CALL...I AM 52 MILES FROM HER HOUSE.
A cold threatening glare worked with my PCP when she asked FOR THE THIRD TIME if I wanted a Covid vax. She never asked again.
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