And much of that increase in drug spending is for non-life threatening conditions. Consider Viagra, for example. Why any health plan covers it is way beyond me.
According to IMS Health, Viagra and Viagra-like drugs are NOT the the major increases in drug spending.
While IMHO, Viagra is over-prescribed, impotence usually has a physical cause, such as disease, injury, or drug side-effects. It is not just psychological, nor is it always an unnecessary medical treatment, it is dependent on the individual circumstances. For example, my hubby had two major surgeries for kidney cancer followed up by "local" chemotherapy (through his urinary tract) over a 4 year period which affected the nerves, arteries and tissues in that area causing him to become totally impotent. We had only been married for 2 years at the time. The doctor did prescribe Viagra as a temporary therapuetic measure until his "system" was able to heal itself, which took another 4 years. In our case, our insurance did pay for it because it was deemed to be medically necessary.