Are you still naive enough to believe that personal sexual information you give to your doctor, required by the federal government, will be kept private?
Our government can't keep NSA data secret (Snowdon), it can't keep State Dept info secret (Manning). Do you recall Barrack Obama saying that they don't spy on Americans, on the TV, too?
Obama's response when it was revealed that they DO spy on Americans, on an ungodly scale, is that it's not "spying". It's "collecting metadata"! See, you don't have to admit to anything you don't want to, you just change what your definition of the words are. Ala, Bill Clinton's classic when he was caught lying:
"It all depends what your definition of is, is."
If the Democrats can use the IRS to fight against their political enemies, and Homeland Security, etc., what makes you think they won't use "private" medical info against anyone they please?
@Undertoad:
You're correct about the part covered by the EHR, (that medical records must be digitized...", and I don't know anyone who has actually studied the 10,000 pages of regulations (not the law, but the regs that will actually implement the law, whose first volume was published recently. So far.. more on the way), but the fact is, your medical records may NOT remain private, and it will include info given by you, on your sex life, etc.
That is very relevant in some medical cases, but it's a HUGE inducement for political, personal, legal, and business opponents, (to say nothing of blackmailers and reporters), to get that info. For them, it's a treasure trove. I seriously doubt if such info will be kept private.
I haven't heard anyone say that we'll have the option of declining to answer, yet. Perhaps it will be like the Census takers, when they ask you what race you are. They won't arrest you if you don't answer (I believe it's inappropriate to ask), but they do insist you answer, and I've never seen them leave without an answer.