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Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solid who wrote (4489)	7/20/1998 2:56:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Viagra insurance suit set to begin Monday July 20 2:50 PM EDT NEW YORK, July 20 (UPI) - The nation's first lawsuit over insurance coverage for the anti-impotence drug Viagra is scheduled to go before a judge. The class-action suit filed in May on behalf of participants in Oxford Health Plans is expected to receive a hearing in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn this afternoon. Oxford says it will cover six pills per month, but the plaintiffs say sexuality is a vital human function and should not be limited. They also accuse the insurance company of breaching its fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which applies to all employee benefit plans. According to attorney Steven Cooper, the four plaintiffs in the class-action suit, Paul Sibley-Schreiber, Sajid Shah, Sheldon Friedman and Edward Gallardo, are middle-aged men who either are diabetic or suffer from prostate problems. They are suing for insurer coverage of the impotence drug and the money they have laid out for the pills, that cost $10 each. A spokeswoman for Oxford says the company will cover half a dozen of the little blue pills per month and only recognizes prescriptions written by medical doctors for medical reasons. The plaintiff's lawyer says: ''(Oxford has) historically provided unlimited coverage for more invasive and painful but equally expensive treatments for impotence _ penile injections and urethral suppositories. Health insurance providers knew for months in advance that Viagra was about to appear on the market, yet only began restricting coverage when the demand proved dramatic.'' Cooper is class-action counsel in similar suits against Prudential, Aetna and U.S. Healthcare. Copyright 1998 by United Press International. All rights reserved. dailynews.yahoo.com