Government to stop helping you get hard? No little blue pill
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Uh oh! If you depend upon Medicare to pay for your impotence drugs, you may be about to lose your free or reduced cost support. It seems that paying to help people get hard is not the kind of health care many politicians feel is owed to citizens.
From The Washington Times, headline is linked.
Funding for impotence drugs riles lawmakers
By Stephen Dinan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The federal government will spend nearly $2 billion in the next decade on male impotence drugs under its Medicare program, according to a new cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office that is fueling some lawmakers' efforts to end that spending.
Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican, is sponsoring a bill to prohibit most erectile dysfunction drug sales under Medicare, the government's insurance program for the elderly and disabled, and released the cost figures yesterday as part of his effort.
"It's a number that's just shocking," Mr. King said. "When you're looking at it starting out at $90 million a year [in fiscal year 2006] and goes up [by 2015] to $280 million -- that's not loose change. That's a huge pile of recreational drug bills."
The federal body that runs Medicare ruled earlier this year that drugs to treat male impotence such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra will be covered as of Jan. 1, 2006, when the full drug coverage program created by Congress two years ago takes effect.
Jeff Trewhitt, a spokesman for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said his group was still looking at the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) estimate and would not comment. But he said the organization is opposed to Mr. King's bill.
"Products that treat erectile dysfunction are part of the overall treatment of patients. Medicare and Medicaid patients should not be like second-class citizens when their diseases are treated," he said.
The CBO estimated that Medicare spending on impotence drugs would be $1.93 billion over 10 years, with $730 million being spent in the first five years. After 2010, the CBO estimate shows spending increasing by $20 million a year and figures that the government will be spending $280 million a year by 2015.
In announcing their decision to include the medications, Medicare officials said the law required them to cover drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration that are medically necessary.
... more at linked article
I love the description in one section calling these "recreational drugs."
In anycase, I hope the pharmaceutical manufacturers are ready to watch their sales go down, down, down.
From The Washington Times, headline is linked.
Funding for impotence drugs riles lawmakers
By Stephen Dinan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The federal government will spend nearly $2 billion in the next decade on male impotence drugs under its Medicare program, according to a new cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office that is fueling some lawmakers' efforts to end that spending.
Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican, is sponsoring a bill to prohibit most erectile dysfunction drug sales under Medicare, the government's insurance program for the elderly and disabled, and released the cost figures yesterday as part of his effort.
"It's a number that's just shocking," Mr. King said. "When you're looking at it starting out at $90 million a year [in fiscal year 2006] and goes up [by 2015] to $280 million -- that's not loose change. That's a huge pile of recreational drug bills."
The federal body that runs Medicare ruled earlier this year that drugs to treat male impotence such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra will be covered as of Jan. 1, 2006, when the full drug coverage program created by Congress two years ago takes effect.
Jeff Trewhitt, a spokesman for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said his group was still looking at the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) estimate and would not comment. But he said the organization is opposed to Mr. King's bill.
"Products that treat erectile dysfunction are part of the overall treatment of patients. Medicare and Medicaid patients should not be like second-class citizens when their diseases are treated," he said.
The CBO estimated that Medicare spending on impotence drugs would be $1.93 billion over 10 years, with $730 million being spent in the first five years. After 2010, the CBO estimate shows spending increasing by $20 million a year and figures that the government will be spending $280 million a year by 2015.
In announcing their decision to include the medications, Medicare officials said the law required them to cover drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration that are medically necessary.
... more at linked article
I love the description in one section calling these "recreational drugs."
In anycase, I hope the pharmaceutical manufacturers are ready to watch their sales go down, down, down.
