More Surveyed Favor Coverage for Birth Control Than for Viagra
Bloomberg News
June 19, 1998, 9:30 a.m. ET
More Surveyed Favor Coverage for Birth Control Than for Viagra
New York, June 19 (Bloomberg) -- More people in a recent
U.S. survey favored health-insurance companies covering
contraceptives than paying for Pfizer Inc.'s anti-impotence drug
Viagra, the Kaiser Family Foundation said.
Insurance coverage of contraceptives was supported by about
three-fourths of the 1,015 people surveyed, the group said.
Insurance coverage of Viagra was favored by about 49 percent of
those surveyed.
Viagra, a blue, diamond-shaped pill, became one of the best-
selling drugs within weeks of its April introduction, with sales
expected to top $1 billion in its first 12 months on the market.
Health insurance coverage of both Viagra and contraceptives
varies. Since Viagra's introduction in April, some managed-care
plans have covered limited prescriptions.
Managed health-care companies including Prudential Life
Insurance Co. of America and Oxford Health Plans Inc. have been
named in lawsuits over restrictions of coverage for Viagra. Some
companies, such as Aetna Inc., have said they're still
considering what their Viagra coverage policy will be.
The foundation will present the results of the survey at a
press conference today in New York, along with the presentation
of a study by the Alan Guttmacher Institute about the potential
costs of full insurance coverage of contraceptive devices and
drugs.
The study calculates that, on average, employers would pay
$17.12 more a year and employees $4.28 more if their health-
insurance plan were to start covering all contraceptive supplies
for the first time.
Contraception considered in the survey included birth-
control pills, implantable contraceptives, diaphragms and other
reversible methods that have been approved by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration and require prescriptions. The added cost for
employers would increase their medical costs by less than 1
percent on average, the study said.
The Alan Guttmacher Institute and the Kaiser Family
Foundation are nonprofit research groups.
--Marion Gammill in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4097/jcn/dd |
