Health Care News and Discussions

Starting next January, Medicare will begin covering the cost of drugs for sexual performance. Drugs such as Viagra, Levitra and Cialis which are prescribed by a doctor as "medically necessary" will be required by to be covered based on the law signed by President Bush two years ago. Many watchdog groups are completely up in arms about the decision. Many people are worried that covering lifestyle drugs for the aging baby boomer generation may eventually bankrupt the drug coverage system.

The term "medically necessary" is what is allowing the sexual performance drugs to be covered by Medicare. Opponents feel there is no good way to administer a system of paying for "medically necessary" drugs. Those in support of the drug benefits say that ultimately, it should be up to the patients' doctor to determine which medication is needed, not Congress.

Americans are pushing for an importation bill that would allow them to import cheaper medications from neighboring countries like Canada. According to a Dow Jones International News article by John Godfrey;

U.S. lawmakers from across the political spectrum vowed
Wednesday to reverse a federal ban on the reimportation of prescription drugs
into the U.S.
Driving the debate is the fact that pharmaceuticals manufactured in U.S.
plants, or in U.S.-owned plants overseas, can be purchased for a fraction of the
cost outside the U.S.

Nine top pharmaceutical companies annouced a new prescription drug savings card on Jan 11th 2005 in an attempt to help reduce costs for the roughly 45 million Americans without health insurance. According to a Reuters article

It offers uninsured patients discounts on more than 275 brand-name drugs, compared to 155 drugs for the Medicare version. Both cards tout savings of between 20 and 40 percent on brand-name drugs.

To qualify, individual patients without health insurance must earn $30,000 or less and be younger than 65 and a legal U.S. resident. Income requirements are adjusted based on family size; for example, a family of four must earn $60,000 or less.