Jim Baker, here is a write up from the Chicago tribune:
The Chicago Tribune
PAYING FOR THE
OTHER GUY'S VIAGRA
June 5, 1998
The soaring number of prescriptions being
written for the male potency drug Viagra
raises several troubling questions.
One concerns the professionalism of some
of the doctors doing the prescribing. How
could it be that new prescriptions for
Viagra, which didn't hit the market until
early April, already are being written at a
rate of more than a quarter of a million per
week? Urologists most familiar with the
problem Viagra is supposed to
help--erectile dysfunction, or ED--say the
drug should be prescribed only after a
thorough physical and psychological
evaluation to determine the cause of the
problem. It's becoming obvious, however,
that just about anyone with a lab coat and a
prescription pad is being begged, cajoled
or, in some cases, bribed to write an order
for the love drug. (And doctors wonder
what happened to physician-driven,
fee-for-service medicine.)
Fortunately, most insurance companies and
HMOs are trying to limit how much of this
whoopee the rest of us will have to
underwrite through policy premiums. Cigna
Healthcare, for instance, covers Viagra only
for insureds who had suffered previously
from a documented condition of organic
impotence. And even they will be
reimbursed for just six pills a month. Some
insurers are denying coverage altogether,
which is their right as private contractors.
Public insurance programs are another
matter. Medicare does not, in general,
cover prescription medications. As for
Medicaid, the federal-state welfare
insurance plan, fewer than one in ten
recipients are adult males, so the issue is
dampened, if not moot. But strict standards
should be put in place, nonetheless,
especially now that Viagra is being
evaluated as a sexual enhancement for
females.
The Clinton administration has called for
coverage in cases of "medical necessity," an
overly vague criterion in a Medicaid
marketplace in which many physicians are
willing to prescribe at the drop of a green
eligibility card. Illinois is making it tougher,
requiring state approval before a
prescription is issued and proof that Viagra
will take the place of more costly but
medically necessary forms of treatment.
To the extent that an active sex life is crucial
to one's emotional and physical well-being,
there is sufficient reason for doctors to
prescribe Viagra and for insurance
plans--even taxpayer-funded ones--to
cover it. But such cases ought to be rare.
Fewer than 2 million Americans were being
treated for ED prior to the Viagra craze.
This nation has better uses for its precious
health-insurance dollars, especially
Medicaid dollars, than improved
recreational sex. Those who take Viagra for
fun or out of curiosity should pay the $10
per pill out of their own pockets. And think
seriously about changing doctors.
TA
|
