Teachers Out Of Generic Viagra

August 18, 2010 by trojanman  
Filed under Useful Drugs

The wonder pill has been brought once again to the spotlight. The reason? Teachers’ union from Milwaukee claims that Viagra should be reinstated in health insurance plans. Viagra used to be free for male teachers, but due to budgetary reasons, the medicine has been cut off from healthcare plans. And now the teachers must pay for these pills. Read more about the controversy that the teachers’ union from Milwaukee has started and whether there is a reason or not to make the tax-payers pay for teachers’ Viagra.

Sildenafil, known as generic Viagra, as a treatment for erectile dysfunction, used to be included in most health insurance plans which made it free for male teachers. The pill was firstly included in insurance plans in 2002, when the board of the district agreed to pay for 6 pills per month for over 10,000 employees, retirees and dependents. However, free Viagra increased quickly in popularity among the teachers and therefore the costs of sustaining free erectile dysfunction drugs reached more than $200,000, a sum which was considered too high by the district. Hence in 2005, Viagra was excluded from the health insurance plans because the government needed to save some money. However, over time, this drug has been subject to major controversy in this context, and has caused numerous law suits. At first, women fought against Viagra to be free for male teachers on the grounds of gender discrimination as contraceptives were not covered by insurance when Viagra was.

Although the union claims that the pills should be free for male teachers. They have not been successful until now. There is no official decision made yet, but the likelihood that Viagra is recovered by public care money is small. The main reason for it is money: they are expensive for the district to afford. A pill costs about $20 when it is not covered by insurance. Now, do the math.The district claims that it cannot afford to pay over $800,000 per year for Viagra pills. Moreover, the financial crisis is one of the reasons that imposed such a reaction from the district.

Free Viagra has quickly become a controversial issue as most lawmakers cannot understand why the union fights over this matter when there have been serious layoffs among teachers due to insufficient funds to pay their wages. According to the board, the money spent on free erectile dysfunction Viagra for teachers would pay for about 12 teachers.

This issue is still a matter to debate as it will probably take months until an official decision is made. However, it is clear that the controversy is still alive as the parents seem to be more supportive of directing the funds into the education of their children and not into the wonder pill.

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