Blunt bans erectile dysfunction drugs for Medicaid recipients

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Matt Blunt on Thursday banned prescription drugs such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra for most of Missouri's Medicaid recipients, contending taxpayer money shouldn't be spent to try to improve people's sex lives.

The decision by the Republican governor comes a little over a month after he ordered the Medicaid program to stop providing erectile dysfunction drugs to registered sex offenders.

The revelation that the state had done so for 26 sex offenders prompted a wider review of Medicaid's medicine policies, said Mike Ditmore, director of the Medical Services Division in the state Department of Social Services.

In a one-year period ending this May, the Medicaid program for the poor spent nearly $200,000 in state funds, plus about $300,000 in federal funds, on erectile dysfunction drugs, Ditmore said. Those prescriptions went to 1,862 of the state's roughly 1 million Medicaid recipients, he said.

"In almost all cases, these drugs are not medically necessary or an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars," Blunt said in a statement announcing the new policy.

"The drugs are about lifestyle choices, not medical needs."

Ditmore, a recently retired neurosurgeon, said he agreed as a physician that erectile drugs are not medically necessary except for people with pulmonary problems. The state will continue providing the drugs only for those people.

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has said that while states are required to cover the drug when it is medically necessary, they are free to define medical necessity.

Missouri's decision is part of a recent national trend, Ditmore said. He said at least eight other states also ban erectile drugs in their Medicaid programs, except for people with pulmonary problems. North Carolina adopted a ban in June and Florida did so in May.

Blunt described Medicaid coverage of erectile dysfunction drugs as a "frivolous use of taxpayer dollars."

Missouri's budget that took effect July 1 seeks to control Medicaid costs by eliminating coverage for more than 90,000 low-income parents, seniors and disabled and requiring co-payments for many adults who remain on the program. It also halts coverage of eyeglasses and most dental work for adults.

The elimination of Viagra coverage wasn't included in the budgeted savings. But Ditmore said it seemed appropriate considering the state was eliminating coverage altogether for some people.

Robin Acree, an activist for Medicaid recipients, said the elimination of Viagra coverage seemed contrary to Blunt's position on other social issues.

"Someone who has erectile dysfunction cannot obtain the medication they need to procreate -- I think that's not in sync with what the pro-life message is," said Acree, executive director of the social services advocacy group Grass Roots Organizing.

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Blunt: http://www.gov.mo.gov

Medicaid: http://www.dss.mo.gov/dms