violentkitten
02-01-2005, 12:36 AM
afford his erection with our money. motherfucker.
link (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-viagra1feb01,0,5565172.story?coll=la-home-headlines)
Medicare to Cover Drugs for Impotence
The prescription benefit addition, effective 2006, is criticized as frivolous. But others counter that it follows practices of other healthcare plans.
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Denise Gellene, Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON -- Medicare's new prescription benefit will cover sexual performance drugs, such as Viagra, in addition to medications for such ailments as high blood pressure and heart disease, program officials confirmed Monday.
The move into what some consider "lifestyle" -- rather than life-saving -- pharmaceuticals is being criticized by conservatives, who see it as an unnecessary frill for a program that is projected to cost at least $400 billion over its first decade.
"Ordinary Americans are going to be surprised," said Robert E. Moffit, a health care analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research and educational institution here. "But this should not be a shock. ... Once you create a universal entitlement, the tendency is for the entitlement to expand."
Clinical experts said that from a medical perspective, the decision makes sense -- and follows the practices of private insurance plans and other government health care programs.
"These are drugs that treat a condition that compromises the quality of life, but doesn't threaten life," said Dr. Ira Sharlip, a urologist and professor at the University of California, San Francisco. "But there are many drugs that are approved for quality-of-life indications. It wouldn't be right to single out (impotence drugs) as frivolous when there are so many others in the same category" -- such as prescription drugs for indigestion or mild pain, he added.
U.S. sales of drugs to treat impotence recently have leveled off at about $1 billion a year, despite heavy advertising on televised sports events and other promotional campaigns.
Winton Gibbons, a pharmaceutical industry analyst at William Blair & Co. in Chicago, said prescriptions for impotence drugs have grown only 15 percent in the last 18 months, despite the introduction in 2003 of Bayer's Levitra and Eli Lilly & Co.'s Cialis to compete with Viagra.
"This is a market that's kind of hit a wall," Gibbons said. "We've had two new products, racier ads and seen just 15 percent growth."
Overall, according to a spokesman for Pfizer Inc., which makes Viagra, men ages 60 to 69 account for about 22 percent of prescriptions for the medicine, while those 70 and over account for about 17 percent. More than 15 million American men have tried Viagra since it was introduced in 1998.
Medicare's outpatient prescription benefit will take effect next Jan. 1, and beneficiaries will begin signing up for the voluntary benefit this fall. They will pay monthly premiums to participate in one of a number of private drug plans certified by Medicare; the government is expected to pay three-quarters of the premium cost as well as a percentage of annual drug costs.
Coverage by Medicare of "impotence agents" was recommended in guidelines issued last year by United States Pharmacopeia, a nonprofit, nongovernmental standards-setting organization. But decisions on what to cover were made by Medicare.
"The bottom line," said a Medicare official who asked not to be identified, "is that plans are allowed to provide them and will have to provide them. But they can limit them only to medically necessary situations, and they can put quantity limits on them."
The Department of Veterans Affairs, for example, limits its patients to four doses a month of impotence drugs. Patients who ask for the drugs are supposed to undergo a thorough medical exam to try to determine the underlying cause of their erectile dysfunction.
The VA originally had decided not to cover Viagra when it was first introduced because of cost, but reversed its decision in 2001, a spokeswoman said. About 151,000 VA patients are prescribed Viagra at a cost to the agency of $4.86 per tablet. Pharmacy prices average about $9 per pill.
What it will cost Medicare to cover these drugs is not known, agency and industry officials said. Medicare is counting on competition among the private drug plans to keep prices in check for all drugs.
"I don't think Medicare coverage is going to add much to the market size or much to Medicare costs," Gibbons said, because men between the ages of 40 and 60 make up the prime market for the drugs -- a group too young to qualify for the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled.
He estimated that the new Medicare coverage would add $50 million to $100 million in total sales, a potential boost of 4 percent to 8 percent.
Alonso-Zaldivar reported from Washington and Gellene from Los Angeles.
link (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-viagra1feb01,0,5565172.story?coll=la-home-headlines)
Medicare to Cover Drugs for Impotence
The prescription benefit addition, effective 2006, is criticized as frivolous. But others counter that it follows practices of other healthcare plans.
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Denise Gellene, Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON -- Medicare's new prescription benefit will cover sexual performance drugs, such as Viagra, in addition to medications for such ailments as high blood pressure and heart disease, program officials confirmed Monday.
The move into what some consider "lifestyle" -- rather than life-saving -- pharmaceuticals is being criticized by conservatives, who see it as an unnecessary frill for a program that is projected to cost at least $400 billion over its first decade.
"Ordinary Americans are going to be surprised," said Robert E. Moffit, a health care analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research and educational institution here. "But this should not be a shock. ... Once you create a universal entitlement, the tendency is for the entitlement to expand."
Clinical experts said that from a medical perspective, the decision makes sense -- and follows the practices of private insurance plans and other government health care programs.
"These are drugs that treat a condition that compromises the quality of life, but doesn't threaten life," said Dr. Ira Sharlip, a urologist and professor at the University of California, San Francisco. "But there are many drugs that are approved for quality-of-life indications. It wouldn't be right to single out (impotence drugs) as frivolous when there are so many others in the same category" -- such as prescription drugs for indigestion or mild pain, he added.
U.S. sales of drugs to treat impotence recently have leveled off at about $1 billion a year, despite heavy advertising on televised sports events and other promotional campaigns.
Winton Gibbons, a pharmaceutical industry analyst at William Blair & Co. in Chicago, said prescriptions for impotence drugs have grown only 15 percent in the last 18 months, despite the introduction in 2003 of Bayer's Levitra and Eli Lilly & Co.'s Cialis to compete with Viagra.
"This is a market that's kind of hit a wall," Gibbons said. "We've had two new products, racier ads and seen just 15 percent growth."
Overall, according to a spokesman for Pfizer Inc., which makes Viagra, men ages 60 to 69 account for about 22 percent of prescriptions for the medicine, while those 70 and over account for about 17 percent. More than 15 million American men have tried Viagra since it was introduced in 1998.
Medicare's outpatient prescription benefit will take effect next Jan. 1, and beneficiaries will begin signing up for the voluntary benefit this fall. They will pay monthly premiums to participate in one of a number of private drug plans certified by Medicare; the government is expected to pay three-quarters of the premium cost as well as a percentage of annual drug costs.
Coverage by Medicare of "impotence agents" was recommended in guidelines issued last year by United States Pharmacopeia, a nonprofit, nongovernmental standards-setting organization. But decisions on what to cover were made by Medicare.
"The bottom line," said a Medicare official who asked not to be identified, "is that plans are allowed to provide them and will have to provide them. But they can limit them only to medically necessary situations, and they can put quantity limits on them."
The Department of Veterans Affairs, for example, limits its patients to four doses a month of impotence drugs. Patients who ask for the drugs are supposed to undergo a thorough medical exam to try to determine the underlying cause of their erectile dysfunction.
The VA originally had decided not to cover Viagra when it was first introduced because of cost, but reversed its decision in 2001, a spokeswoman said. About 151,000 VA patients are prescribed Viagra at a cost to the agency of $4.86 per tablet. Pharmacy prices average about $9 per pill.
What it will cost Medicare to cover these drugs is not known, agency and industry officials said. Medicare is counting on competition among the private drug plans to keep prices in check for all drugs.
"I don't think Medicare coverage is going to add much to the market size or much to Medicare costs," Gibbons said, because men between the ages of 40 and 60 make up the prime market for the drugs -- a group too young to qualify for the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled.
He estimated that the new Medicare coverage would add $50 million to $100 million in total sales, a potential boost of 4 percent to 8 percent.
Alonso-Zaldivar reported from Washington and Gellene from Los Angeles.