Oh brother. Medicare to cover boner pills.

[UdoKier]

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 will take effect next year. The decision to include pharmaceuticals that enhance the quality of life is a matter of debate.
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Denise Gellene, Times Staff Writers


WASHINGTON — Medicare's new prescription benefit will cover sexual performance drugs, like 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 already is projected to cost at least $400 billion over its first decade.

Let me get this straight? It doesn't cover birth control, right? These codgers need to be buying their OWN boner pills. Why should we be footing the bill. I'd rather be preventing unnecessary abortions and unwanted children than subsidizing some middle-aged lothario's sexploits.

And I don't believe for a second that "conservatives" are against it. They're probably the jerks that got it covered in the first place. And you KNOW they put the kibosh on the Pill.

:mad:

[LeftyMom]

1. Of course Medicare doesn't cover birth control

Medicare is for seniors. There isn't a exactly a high risk of unplanned pregnancy in post-menopausal women.

[sandnsea]

3. Medicare is for disabiity too

It covers folks on SSD, which is women of all ages.

[GoBlue]

12. If you think that ED is an important disablity...

then {expletive deleted}!

[sandnsea]

28. *sigh*

I guess I'll just repeat myself.

"It covers folks on SSD, which is women of all ages."

Women suffer from ED? I don't think so.

:eyes: Reading comprehension. Try it.

[Bunny]

2. I thought Medicare was mainly for people aged 65 and over.

There probably wouldn't be much need for birth control pills in that age group. But your point about boner pills is well-taken.

[tom_paine]

4. What would it matter if prominent Busheviks got caught for ANYTHING

It has already been conclusively proven by Rush Limbaugh and the Busheviks who Watergated the Democratic Judiciary Committee (not to mention the Bushevik who mailed the anthrax to Democrats and the Bushevik who outed a CIA agent, among MANY OTHERS) that Imperial Servants are immune from even the most serious criminal charges or investigations (and if Torture Boy is forced to put on an investigation for show, you can rest assured it will go NOWHERE).

Immune.

Like the Communists.

Like the Nazis.

Eventually, national law enforcement everywhere is being turned into 1940s Mississippi Law Enforcement, with the Busheviks as the local Sheriff/KKK and all of us as the Uppity Negroes.

Evetually.

Just one or two more generations to pass away before the REAL Tyranny begins, not this soft tranisitional phase.

[Red State Blues]

6. Jeez dude ...

Chill out! It's only boner pills!

[NCN007]

15. Um i think we were talking about viagra

[Red State Blues]

5. Hang on!

What's so bad about something that can greatly improve the quality of life for some of our seniors?

Hey, the small percentage of women who could need birth control through Medicare should be able to get that as well. And the government should be buying in bulk ...

[UdoKier]

20. Medicare is supposed to be about providing good basic health care.

Viagra is a luxury item and should not be covered.

[Red State Blues]

32. Well as long as we can all agree that your subjective opinion

is absolute fact we should get along fine.

Back in the real word, I believe that if we improve many seniors basic quality of life then we may save money in the long run, less depression, and better more loving relationships which many believe can also have an effect on health.

I suppose anti-depressants are a luxury as well? By your logic birth control definitely is.

[drdon326]

7. "boner" is so childish...

use other words like....

woody
chubby
hammer-head

[Tesla]

8. BOB!!!!

Hi I'm Bob!

[laylah]

9. OMG

I am now having to clean coffee off my monitor after spewing it out of my nose on THAT one...funny Tesla!
Jenn

[xchrom]

10. get a grip

different people have different problems.
-- jumping up and down all over somebody elses problem is just crass.
though in this case the image is funny.

liberals support preventing unwanted pregnancies, free access to abortions and boner pills.

why are you thinking about other peoples sex lives and calling them old codgers. just crude.

[UdoKier]

21. I'm not thjinking about other people's sex lives.

I used those terms to lighten up the post. Bust I seriously object to paying for luxury items, especially when necessities like the Pill are not covered.

[UdoKier]

23. You said "get a grip"

... in a boner thread.



He he he he...snicker....he he he he, hehehe he he hehe...

[retrorich]

11. 4-Hour Erections

I'm wondering how I could explain a 4-hour erection to my boss.

[DistantWind88]

13. Depends on what you're doing with it...

[izzie]

14. Well it has to be OK by all those old men in Congress.

Now we know just what is wrong with them.

[WillowTree]

16. Viagra...

....and other "boner pills", as you so tactfully put it, treat a bodily malfunction.

Birth control pills, when prescribed for birth control, do not.

That is why, historically, most medical insurance will cover one and not the other. Medicare is, after all, medical insurance for the aged and disabled, and the purpose of medical insurance is to pay for treatment of disease and injury. It falls down on the job often enough, true, but this isn't one of those instances.

Oh, and, BC pills are covered by most insurance when prescribed to treat endometriosis or dysmenorrhea or other physical malfunctions.

Sorry to disappoint those who want to make that issue into a discrimination-against-women issue.

And, if you want to limit insurance coverage in this case based on what's life-threatening and what's not, then it would follow that treatment of your kid's potentially disfiguring acne or removal of an enormous, ugly, but benign lesion on her/his chin, both of which could be stigmatizing (as is impotence) but not life-threatening, should not be covered by insurance, either, right?

[sendero]

17. Kinda sorta..

... the problem here is that Viagra (and it's analogs) are also "recreational" drugs. Lots of people use them who don't really have ED. In fact, I'd bet they sell more of them to people who "want" them than they do to people who "need" them.

[DistantWind88]

19. Same as many other drugs...

[papau]

18. Some might disagree and call both a treatment for life style

but that is just my opinion.

[UdoKier]

22. I didn't say anything about life-threatening.

I just think that Viagra is a luxury item and that people can buy it themselves.

It is in society's interest, however, that birth control be covered since it prevents so many problems down the road.

Also, impotence doesn't keep people from living their lives or going outside, as a carbuncle on one's chin would.

I also don't buy "erectile dysfunction" as a health problem. It is a symptom of other health problems to some degree, there are psychological components, and to a degree, it is NORMAL to experience a loss of sex drive as one ages. If you're unhappy about it, why not try getting in better shape, try some tantric techniques and see what happens?

If it doesn't work, try the 4-hour boner pills, but please don't ask everybody else to subsidize your sex life

[xchrom]

24. ridiculous

these are medical conditions like any other medical condition.
it approriate to enhance peoples lives -- especially people who may have problems with heart conditions or high blood pressure.
and why do you make the glittering generallity that sexual dysfunction is limited to older people?
and i think studies will show that plenty of people enjoy sex as they get older -- why wouldn't that be important to them?
by your reasoning don't ask me to support drugs for women's health -- since we're just being small minded here.

[UdoKier]

25. That's great if older people enjoy sex.

Just not on my dime.


And birth control is about more than women's health. It's about preventing abortions and unwanted children who may be born into horrible conditions.

[Neecy]

27. hmmmm

I thought that heart conditions and high blood pressure make you a poor candidate for these meds. I believe the most common medical reason for them is for men who have had prostate cancer.

What's galling about this is that we not only have to pay for senior 'sexploits' (love the original post, btw), but we'll also be picking up the tab for the advertisement featuring the smug couple boasting about his Big Hard. Unbelieveable that our tax money is going to help fund one of the most obnoxious ad campaigns in history.

[Red State Blues]

33. How amazingly open minded of you.

"Also, impotence doesn't keep people from living their lives or going outside, as a carbuncle on one's chin would.

Why would a carbuncle on someones chin keep them from going outside?

I don't buy that.

"I also don't buy "erectile dysfunction" as a health problem. It is a symptom of other health problems to some degree, there are psychological components, and to a degree, it is NORMAL to experience a loss of sex drive as one ages."

Well good for you! Any other cutting edge views on medical science from 1971 you'd like to share?

[UdoKier]

35. The "cutting edge view" that loss of sex drive with age is dysfunction...

... is a lot more driven by big pharma profits than real science.

And the notion that sexual intercourse is the be-all, end-all, ultimate pinnacle activity for enhancing quality of life is equally ludicrous. It's a bodily function. Pleasant, but many people do just fine without it.


The cost savings to everyone by providing birth control are enormous, whereas providing older men with viagra benefits the older men and their partners only.

That's the only reason I would make an exception for birth control.

[ShaneGR]

26. Duh.... medicare covers SENIORS......

Seniors don't require birth control.

[UdoKier]

31. Duh, it doesn't cover just seniors.

Already covered in the thread.

[Dark]

29. $400 billion over the next decade? That's what the military costs us

each year.

[Red State Rebel]

30. Should only be given after permission of wife....

Nuff said!

[Red State Blues]

34. You know,

I've already left a couple of posts that are probably going to piss you off but it occurs to me after rereading most of your posts that what really pisses you off if the birth control thing. (Which I'm in complete agreement with you in, BTW)

But why not use this as an opportunity to argue for including birth control rather than argue against everything else until your pet project goes through?

[WillowTree]

36. This contraception thing...

....just breaks me up, it really does.

What we're talking about here is at least as much of a "lifestyle choice", if not moreso, as the sexual dysfunction issue. If a woman or couple doesn't want to (or shouldn't, for medical reasons) have any more children, a tubal or vasectomy is a far surer way to assure that and those procedures are covered by insurance. Don't know for sure what Medicare does about those for disabled folks of childbearing age, but I'd be willing to bet that it covers sterilization procedures, too.

If there's a medical reason other than birth control, such as the conditions I mentioned before or during a period of time when a woman is taking Accutane, which precludes pregnancy for the duration, or some such reason for prescribing contraceptives for a limited time, insurance covers that, too.

So that leaves the issue of taking contraceptives because a woman or couple doesn't want to have a child right now, but may want to in the future. No one has ever given me a reasonable explanation as to why that woman or that couple shouldn't be responsible themselves for that choice. This is a "lifestyle choice" as much as anything else you can cite and has nothing to do with medical treatment or necessity whatsoever.

Or, to put it another way, please don't ask everybody else to subsidize your sex life because you choose to have sex, but choose not to have children. I don't care to subsidize other people's non-senior "sexploits" just as some others here object to subsidizing the "sexploits" of seniors.

</rant>