Laura and all, the Motley Fool's Evening News' take on the price drop:
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - news) fell $1 3/8 to $110 1/8 on news that another major health management company has decided it won't pay for the drug company's hot-selling impotence pill Viagra under its regular coverage. Last week, Kaiser Permanente, which has 9.1 million members, said it would stop coverage of Viagra but that employers would be able to buy supplemental coverage for Viagra as well as other drugs for sexual dysfunction. Now, according to The Wall Street Journal, Aetna
Inc.'s (NYSE:AET - news) Aetna/U.S. Healthcare managed care unit, which has 13.7 million members, won't cover Viagra but will give employers the option of paying more to cover the drug, like it does for coverage of birth control pills. These decisions not to cover Viagra may embolden other large insurers that are still pondering whether they will cover the drug to lower the axe on Viagra. PacifiCare Health Systems (Nasdaq:PHSYA - news) , Humana (NYSE:HUM - news) , and Prudential HealthCare, a unit of Prudential Insurance, all have installed interim policies that don't allow coverage. Cigna Corp.'s (NYSE:CI - news) Cigna HealthCare now covers up to six pills a
month, while United HealthCare allows for as many as eight a month. |
