Republican Lawmaker To Introduce Legislation Blocking Medicare Coverage of Impotence Treatments

Main Category: Erectile Dysfunction / Premature Ejaculation
Article Date: 03 Feb 2005 - 11:00 PST

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Republican Steve King (R-Iowa) has said he would introduce legislation barring coverage by Medicare of "lifestyle drugs" used to treat erectile dysfunction, the… New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 2/2). CMS officials on Monday confirmed that the Medicare prescription drug benefit will cover impotence drugs such as Viagra (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 2/1). King said, "When Medicare covers Viagra pills, you are, in effect, taking money away from someone else's life-savings drugs." He added, "If we are going to subsidize someone's recreational sex, I don't think that's what our founding fathers had in mind" (New York Times, 2/2). Robert Moffit, a health care analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said, "Members of Congress, frankly, are not competent to make these decisions. Is Congress going to start writing prescriptions?" He added, "Micromanagement will institutionalize incompetence." CMS spokesperson Gary Karr said, "The law says if it's an [FDA- approved drug and it's medically necessary, it has to be covered" (Kellman, AP/Chico Enterprise-Record, 2/2).

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