Originally published June 23 2005
Georgia's governor proposes halt on providing erectile dysfunction drugs via Medicaid
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
An article on www.11alive.com, Atlanta's NBC affiliate, recently said Georgia governor Sonny Perdue has proposed to stop providing eredtile dysfunction drugs like Viagra, Levitra and Cialis to Medicaid recipients.
Georgia taxpayers spent more than $250,000 for 1,534 Medicaid recipients to receive erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra, Levitra and Cialis between April 2004 and last month, and the governor wants it to stop.
The state Department of Community Health released the numbers this week amid a nationwide controversy over sex offenders receiving the drugs through Medicaid.
The state already has decided to stop providing the drugs to sex offenders, but Perdue and other officials say the drugs should not be provided to any of the 1.5 million Georgians on Medicaid, a program that provides health insurance to the poor and disabled.
"It is my belief that filling prescriptions for these types of medications is an inappropriate use of taxpayer money," Perdue said in a Tuesday letter to Georgia's congressmen.
Georgia's Medicaid program pays for the drugs because of a 1998 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services decision that Medicaid should pay for the drugs when doctors say they are needed, said state Department of Community Health Commissioner Tim Burgess.
"Once you decide something is medically necessary, you have to cover it," Karr said, adding that in fiscal 2005 states spent $38 million of the collective $295 billion Medicaid dollars on erectile dysfunction drugs.
Many Medicaid patients receive the drugs because erectile dysfunction is a symptom of serious health problems, such as spinal cord injuries, said Mark Johnson, director of advocacy for the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, a catastrophic care hospital.
Clint Austin, a Georgia-based lobbyist for Pfizer, which makes Viagra, said economically disadvantaged patients should not be denied the drugs because the state Department of Community Health determines who will receive the drugs and how much the state will pay for them.
"Erectile dysfunction often results from diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other serious diseases," Austin said.
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