Florida: Millions Of Tax Dollars Paying For People's Sex Lives (17M+ for Viagra/others via Medicaid)

Local 6 (Florida) ^ | May 17, 2005

[Stoat]

Millions Of Tax Dollars Paying For People's Sex Lives

 

POSTED: 11:27 pm EDT May 17, 2005

UPDATED: 11:50 pm EDT May 17, 2005

 

ORLANDO, Fla., -- A Local 6 News investigation uncovered Florida Medicaid records showing millions of your tax dollars paying for other people's sex lives.

 

  The drugs, including Viagra, Cialis, Levitra and Caverject, are costing taxpayers about $17.3 million, according to Local 6 News.

  "That's $17 million of your tax money that's going to pay for Viagra," Local 6 News reporter Wendy Saltzman said.

"That's horrible, that's horrible," a taxpayer said. "I want my money back." State Sen. Gary Siplin is calling for an investigation into the possible abuse of Medicaid funds after hearing about the Local 6 News report.

"I think this is evidence of fraud," Siplin said. "I want to see whose benefiting from it. I don't think it's the patients." State law limits "one dose per month for any drug prescribed to treat erectile dysfunction," according to the report.

However, Local 6 News found in once case a patient was prescribed 240 pills of Viagra for a 30 day supply -- about eight pills a day. Taxpayers paid more than $2,100 for the pills, according to the report.

 

  "Obviously this requires an investigation of the utilization of money, of state taxpayer dollars on Viagra," Siplin said.

  Local 6 News traveled to Tallahassee to question the Agency for Health Care Administration about the use of Medicaid funds.

"These drugs are provided through an agreement between the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Drug Manufacturers," spokeswoman Sybil Richard said. "Once that agreement is signed, the states are required to cover those drugs."

 

  Richard and Dr. Sigfredo Aldarondo said the hundreds of cases Local 6 News uncovered for the report where patients were prescribed between 90 and 240 pills of Viagra a month were cases where the sex drug is being used to treat an "off-label" medical condition -- a condition the drug has never been approved for.

  "We use it to treat a condition called pulmonary hypertension," Aldarondo said.

The Food and Drug Administration has only approved the use of Viagra for the treatment of erectile dysfunction and not pulmonary disease "I don't think we are spending any more for Viagra than we are spending for some other very necessary medical treatments," Richard said.

Most of the $17 million worth of prescriptions were single dose uses, prescribed simply for the purpose of having sex, Local 6 News found. Dr. Lewis Curtwright has prescribed more Viagra than any other doctor in Central Florida, according to the report.

"Do you think that is a good use of taxpayer's money?" Saltzman asked. "Well, my job is not to think what's the taxpayers money," Curtwright said.

In comparison to Viagra and other sex drugs, Local 6 News found Medicaid does not cover fertility drugs for women that may be medically necessary for reproduction.

[Guht]

How depraved is this country when tax payers foot the bill for someone's Viagra. Of course the Rats will say, that these people have the "right" to a normal sex-life. This is just freakin' ridiculous. I truly wish I had something more cognisant to say but I am flabergasted. What the heck is Jeb doing down there, is anyone keeping track of what tax dollars are used for anymore?

[RichInOC]

...which reminds me of the time Walter Williams was guest-hosting for Rush, and in the course of the show he mentioned that he would in the near future be of age for Medicare. Naturally, the other guys in the studio were kidding him about being eligible to get his Viagra paid for through Medicare, to which the good doctor shot back the deathless line...

"Brothers don't need Viagra."

[eagle11]

Throw in a few thousand Romeo i Juliet cigars and you've got yourself a vote-getting scheme made for Florida...

[SittinYonder]

is anyone keeping track of what tax dollars are used for anymore?

If you have to ask, the answer is obviously no. Of course, if I was taking eight Viagra a day, someone would probably have to subsidize me, too.

[Apercu]

How pathetic we have become. All that $ spent on self indulging Dorian Grays. I'd rather see it spent on children in some way shape or form.

[RichInOC]

Well, I don't know about subsidies, but you almost certainly would need some kind of relief.

[billclintonwillrotinhell]

Maybe if the state of FloriDUH would spend those millions of dollars locking up more perverts and protecting their children (instead of giving it away to middle-aged sex panhandlers), Jessica Marie Lunsford would still be alive.

Who the hell approves spending like this? Is Jeb totally asleep at the wheel down there? Has somebody disconnected his feeding tube? Wake up! It's mind-boggling to think that American taxpayers go to work each day and pay their taxes so that their money can be wasted in this way.

[taxesareforever]

"We use it to treat a condition called pulmonary hypertension," Aldarondo said.

Pulmonary hypertension: Condition brought on by the need to take whole bunches of drugs at taxpayer expense. In the process, if the little lady gets a smile on her face this is considered a bonus.

[cherry]

I agree......people need to learn and accept aging and that includes slowing down a bit of one's sexual abilities.....

but no, not in America.....in America, we can't grow old here......we can't slow down peacefully....

[Celtjew Libertarian]

Pulmonary hypertension: Condition brought on by the need to take whole bunches of drugs at taxpayer expense. In the process, if the little lady gets a smile on her face this is considered a bonus.

That's basically how it was found out that Viagra works for erectile dysfunction. Sildenafil (its generic name) was originally used to treat angina. It wasn't until doctors began noticing that many of their angina patients were reporting that, as a bonus, impotence problems had also gone that they realized it could be used for what its more commonly known for.

I'm a medical transcriber. The first time I typed up a note for a patient, who was receiving Viagra for pulmonary hypertension, I was so surprised that I double-checked with the doctor that I'd heard right.

[Celtjew Libertarian]

I agree......people need to learn and accept aging and that includes slowing down a bit of one's sexual abilities.....

Old people should also accept that aging results in the lessening of one's ability to walk and should give up on their arthritis medications. /sarcasm off

[Celtjew Libertarian]

I'm no fan of Medicare/Medicaid, but I don't knee how this differs from the government paying for medications that treat arthritis or gastrointestinal problems. It's medication that helps a part of the body that is not functioning correctly to function correctly.

Contrast this with birth control, which is medication that results in a functioning part of the body to dysfunction.

[Stoat]

I don't knee how this differs from the government paying for medications that treat arthritis or gastrointestinal problems

Arthritis and GI problems can be life-threatening, or at the very least inhibit the manner in which you are able to perform your required activities of daily living.  Sexual dysfunction is an entirely subjective 'quality of life' concern that is terribly easy, convenient and profitable to diagnose, particularly in an older population demographic that Florida is famous for, and has no bearing on ADL's.  It's also a 'condition' that has no rigid standard for diagnosis (pardon the pun)....essentially it's entirely based upon what the patient reports and is quite often impossible to verify scientifically..

As a Libertarian whose fellow travelers will frequently rail against big government and excessive government spending, I find it puzzling that you are equivocating on this story, particularly since the story suggests that massive fraud is involved.

[Celtjew Libertarian]

Arthritis and GI problems can be life-threatening, or at the very least inhibit the manner in which you are able to perform your required activities of daily living.

With my wife, sex is a required activity of -- well, not quite daily living, but certainly of making it through more more than three days straight. Not that I'm complaining. 8>)

Seriously, I consider this more of a quality of life issue.

As a Libertarian whose fellow travelers will frequently rail against big government and excessive government spending, I find it puzzling that you are equivocating on this story, particularly since the story suggests that massive fraud is involved.

More of a small-l libertarian. Even there, I have a weird take on libertarianism: Even if I oppose a government program on philosophical grounds, I can also step back and say, "Given that this program exists, how can it be doing its job better?" I'm also practical enough to know government isn't about to disappear overnight.

So, to take another example, I'm philosophically uncomfortable with government owning the highways, but given that they do, I figure they have the right license the drivers on it. Not to mention that aesthetically and emotionally, I adore the Interstate system. Mind you, since there is a military justification for it and I do believe that the military is a necessary and legitimate part of government, I can almost accept the Interstate system, as well.