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Viagra=sex: Only formula some people can relate to
07 February 2005
"Medically necessary" are key words that should allow coverage of
Viagra in Medicare's new prescription
drug program.
Already extremists are getting into a snit over the inclusion, perhaps because too many automatically think of sex when they hear the name Viagra.
Yes, Viagra can be used as a sex-performance
drug. And we'd guess 95 percent of the population -- or more --
know the drug only through that definiition because of people's
obsession with sex.
But Viagra is also used in treating high blood pressure. We wonder how many of the "gee, this is awful" and other noise-makers know that?
Viagra should be included among drugs
that will be covered under the new Medicare plan beginning next
year because it is an FDA-approved drug. But it should be covered
only if it is "medically necessary," which is supposed
to be the strict condition imposed on all covered drugs.
Medicare should not pay for Viagra as a sex stimulant.
It's insulting to the heart patients who need Viagra-type medicines to hear people such as Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, to rant: "Asking Uncle Sam to pay for the romance of 76 million baby boomers will quicken the impending collapse of Medicare."
Perhaps it shows ignorance more than leadership for Schatz and many members of Congress to zero in on the sexual-enhancement effects of Viagra as opposed to its other medical uses.
There is no doubt that to include Viagra as a covered prescription will lead to abuses. That happens with many medications. But inclusion of Viagra for coverage will not cause that problem. Doctors who inappropriately prescribe Viagra as "medically necessary" will cause the problem and should become the target of their state licensing agencies and Medicare investigators.
Let's not make it financially difficult for the elderly to reap medicinal benefits from a drug because it also has another -- let's say sexier -- use. source:-http://www.pantagraph.com | 
