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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dwight E. Karlsen who wrote (7026)	10/3/1998 9:28:00 PM
From: Les H	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 67261

Those two articles are both from tomorrow's NY Times which is already up on their web site. nytimes.com The other article I posted has the link at the bottom.

To: Dwight E. Karlsen who wrote (7026)	10/3/1998 9:37:00 PM
From: Les H	Respond to of 67261

Pentagon estimates Viagra costs at $50 million October 3, 1998 Web posted at: 1:33 p.m. EDT (1733 GMT) WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon estimates it will spend around $50 million in the coming year to provide the impotence drug Viagra to American troops and military retirees. The cost -- roughly the price of two new Marine Corps Harrier jets or 45 Tomahawk cruise missiles -- is among the unexpected military expenses that Pentagon officials recently told Congress have come up since they made their original 1999 budget requests. "Viagra sort of burst on the scene," Pentagon spokesman Jim Turner said Friday. Based on the number of soldiers, sailors, pilots, Marines and retirees asking for Viagra so far at military clinics and hospitals, Defense Department health officials estimated that if the drug were given to everyone who wanted it, the cost could top $100 million. But the military is limiting Viagra to men diagnosed with erectile dysfunction by a doctor. Also, no one is allowed more than six pills a month, and according to a written Pentagon policy, "'lost', 'stolen', or 'destroyed' tablets will not be replaced." Viagra costs $8 to $10 a pill. At that rate, the Pentagon's estimate of spending $50 million would pay for 5 million to 6 million of the pills. The Pentagon provides health care to about 1.2 million troops and 5 million dependents and retirees. Since Viagra was authorized for sale in the United States in March, the drug has been prescribed to more than 4 million American men, according to its maker, New York-based Pfizer Inc. Safety risks to people with heart problems and the cost of pills have led some private insurers to deny or limit coverage. In July, the Veterans Affairs Department announced it would not include Viagra among the drugs that must be available at all its medical centers because Viagra had the potential to eat up as much as 20 percent of the VA's entire pharmaceutical budget. VA officials can decide on case-by-case whether to provide Viagra if a physician finds a compelling reason to use it. The military's projected Viagra expenses were first reported by Cox News Service. Impotence increases with age, and is mostly caused by such medical problems as diabetes, heart disease, prostate surgery and spinal cord injury. It also can be psychological or a side effect of certain drugs. Men are supposed to take no more than one prescription-only Viagra pill a day, about an hour before intercourse. Heart patients taking nitroglycerin should not use Viagra because the drugs can interact to reduce blood pressure, doctors said. Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This