The seemingly inevitable question no journalist has asked Trump

[misanthrope]

The panel onstage at NABJ missed this chance as well. When Trump bragged that he had passed two cognitive tests, someone should have asked, "What specifically happened that someone felt you needed to undergo a cognitive test?"

Even if it were part of a regular check-up, doctors normally turn to a standardized cognitive assessment test if they have reason to be concerned from their interactions with the patient. So what was it, Donnie Two Scoops? What made someone think you needed this not just once, but twice?

[edhopper]

1. I take that test yearly

As part of my Medicare annual check up. They give it to all seniors. If you don't have mental decline, you pass.

[dpibel]

4. I'm a senior

I've never been given a cognitive test.

[orthoclad]

20. Me neither.

[patricia92243]

24. I guess it is my insurance that has me take a yearly wellness checkup. I thought

it was everyone with Medicare - sorry, my mistake.

[Ms. Toad]

5. Not all seniors are given the MOCA (the test Trump was given).

Medicare does require that the doctor assess mental cognition at every annual wellness check-up. It does not require the use of the MOCA to make that assessment. Many (including my doctor) assess my cognitive abilities simply by engaging in conversation with me.

[edhopper]

8. Sure

But I am just saying a cognitive test, of some sort is a regular thing for seniors.
The question that should be asked TFG is why is he making a big deal about something that is routinely given to Seniorscandciscas common as blood pressure.

[Ms. Toad]

13. No, cognitive tests are not a regular thing for seniors.

I have had three wellness visits and have never taken a cognitive test of any sort. My doctor simply chats with me - like he has done during every visit for at least two decades. From chatting with me he can tell whether there is no need to administer a test or refer me for in-depth cognitive assessment. That is all that Medicare requires: That the doctor assess whether you are in need of a referral for cognitive impairment. Doctors can choose to use a test, but doing so isn't a regular thing for all seniors.

You are correct that he shouldn't be making a big deal out of it - not because all seniors have some sort of cognitive test administered on a regular basis, but because the the test that was administered to him is a gross assessment of cognitive abilities - and you don't fail it unless you already have significant cognitive decline. My spouse, who has been diagnosed with cognitive impairment - and is taking two Alzheimer's medications, takes it regularly as part of her neurologist visits - and still gets 100% every time. That's why he shouldn't be making a big deal out of it - he is cognitively impaired enough that he doesn't understand that passing (even with 100%) is no big deal.

[misanthrope]

10. Then why didn't that doctor give him the test every time

rather than just twice? What happened to spur his taking the test twice?

[Srkdqltr]

2. What is a cognative test?

My doc will tell me 4 words to say back to him at the end of the visit. I also have to draw a clock with a certain time. Is that it?

[Ms. Toad]

6. Yes.

A test similar to that (the MOCA) is the test Trump was given. The word repetition isn't at the end of the visit in the test, but I believe it is at the end of the test - so I can't tell from your description whether you took that specific test - but it is certainly similar. (It only detects very significant declines in cognitive ability).

[Srkdqltr]

9. Usually i put the words into a sentence. Last time i put a digital time in the clock face with hands also.

Im 82. I do wordle every day and connections. I also make quilts. I guess I'd pass. LoL.

For now.

[Ms. Toad]

16. Here is a link to the MoCA test

?fit=583%2C769&ssl=1

If that's the one you've taken, you'll probably recognize it.

All but the most severely impaired should pass it. My spouse, with a cognitive impairment who is taking two Alzheimer's medications, has passed it with 100% every time I've watched her take it.

[Srkdqltr]

19. Never took that one.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

23. As a social worker, I used to do tests on patients at hospice.

It was similar to that but not the same exact one. That was about 15 years ago so a lot has changed since then.

[wnylib]

18. I love to do newspaper word games like deciphering cryptograms,

unscrambling words for a clue that also has to be unscrambled to answer a question, and creating as many words as possible from the letters of a single given word (sort of like Scrabble without points or other players). Sometimes I pick up a pamphlet with other types of word games.

I was doing some at the doc's office while waiting for him to come into the exam room for my yearly Medicare exam. He said they were good mental exercises and I should continue doing them to stay mentally alert.

[mucholderthandirt]

25. I do a Scrabble game and solitaire on my phone/tablet.

I've done crosswords, word scrambles, word searches, all kinds of things over the years. Except Soduku, I can't figure that out to save my life. I've always had issues with some math stuff, we moved a lot when I was a kid and with two completely different school systems I was always missing something. Science, English, I could read and catch up, but never with math.

I probably would fail some of that cognitive test listed above, as since I had Covid last year my memory isn't the best. But I guarantee I would still do better than Trump.

Forgot to say that I'm 66, just a bit over six months until l hit 67. My mother is 85 and she's never taken such a test, nor did my father. I guess they did well enough during the visits to not need one. Daddy was sharp to the end and Mama looks like she's going to be the same.

[wnylib]

28. I'm in my 70s and my nurse practitioner always uses the test when

I have my yearly Medicare physical check up. I don't know why since I've never had any problem passing it. Maybe it's because I had a series of TIAs, but that was almost 15 years ago. There were specific contributing factors that were cleared up and the TIAs stopped.

Math was never my favorite subject. My aptitude was for English and foreign languages where I got an A without even trying. I had to work at math and still usually got only a B. After I met the required number of math credits, I didn't take any more math classes. I don't do Sudoku, either.

[patricia92243]

3. He is just taking the test that all of us over 65 take yearly.

[Ms. Toad]

7. "All of us over 65" don't take that test yearly.

While an assessment of your cognitive abilities is required if you are on Medicare, but Medicare does not require the MOCA test. My doctor assess my cognitive abilities simply by conversing with me.

[misanthrope]

11. That is my point exactly

And why didn't he say he gets one every time he sees that doctor? To me, this sounds as if something specific made medical personnel decide to give him a standardized cognitive test.

[Ms. Toad]

15. You seem to have missed my point.

The test is not administered to all seniors every year. I've never taken one - nor is using a test required as part of Medicare.

As to Trump, I believe he requested the test the first time.

[misanthrope]

17. I don't think Trump requested anything

He wouldn't be interested in doctors or testing or anything by the book. He sloughed off an exam and got a quack to sign off on a dubious report at one point, even before Ronny Jackson weighed in. I suspect someone else in Trump's orbit asked for the cognitive exam and talked him into relenting to it.

I realize all seniors aren't given a formal cognitive test. I am on Medicare and have never received one at my wellness checks. My doctor apparently makes the assessment based on our conversations. As that's been the case for you as well, then you understand that it would take some deviation on your part to make your doctor suspect a cognitive assessment might be in order. They aren't just going to call for one out of the blue.

But even if Trump's doctor thought the MoCA or its equivalent was warranted as part of a standard yearly protocol, then why did Trump only take it twice? He was in office for four years. The would lead me to assume there was a specific reason the doctor wanted the patient to submit to the formal test.

[Zoomie1986]

22. Misanthrope wasn't saying the test was required

But wondering why a patient who clearly needed it during that visit wasn't required to have it more often or regularly. Doctors don't go there for giggles and grins, but because the patient has exhibited a clear sign of cognitive impairment. That's why you can get by with an assessment based on a simple chat, while your spouse requires the MOCA.

I, too, would like to know why the doctors felt compelled to have him undergo the MOCA test, what the indicator was that triggered having him take it. Something told them his cognition was that questionable, or they never would have done the test.

I suspect this is what misanthrope is also wondering, but everyone else seems to be going off on unrelated tangents.

So I'll make it simple: What was the sign of cognitive impairment that had the doctors perform that test? Yeah, yeah, HIPAA, but I consider it beyond important to know the answer to that when the patient is now running for elected office.

[Ms. Toad]

29. My understanding was that he asked for it. n/t

[orthoclad]

21. Not me.

[kentuck]

12. It's not a complicated test...

...unless you have dementia.

It can usually be "aced" by a third grader.

[Bucky]

14. No no, it was very hard. Most people can't pass it. You have to go "man, person, woman, refrigerator"

and all in the right order!! I'd like to see Sleepy Kamaaala try and say those things in order!! People come up and tell me, "Sir, my lord Trumpissimo, how can you be so smart? And I've got the best brains, brains like no one's ever seen! Really the best brains of any brain in history ever!

[mucholderthandirt]

26. LOL That's just how he'd say it, too.

[Bitbit]

27. Uncle MIT genes.