NEWS: U.S. Government funds Viagra for Sex Offenders

A recent audit by the office of Alan Heves shows that 198 convicted sex offenders have been getting Viagra on behalf of Medicaid for the past five years.



The apparent problem is from a 1998 directive that enables Medicaid to include Viagra and other erectile dysfunction medication. The Medicaid list was then applied to the list of registered sex offenders.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton claims that this mistake is 'deeply disturbing' and that it should be corrected.


Related News Links:
www.osc.state.ny.us
www.hhs.gov

Good post. This is really bad. Hopefully it won't be too much of a problem to YANK this support IMMEDIATELY.

Viagra is a prescription drug... Maybe prescriptions for the drug should be unattainable for sex offenders... Weird territory we'd be getting into, though, since technically if a person has served their time, they deserve a chance at a normal life and maybe that life for sex offenders could possibly include legitimate and legal sex (as much as I hate to admit stuff like that, I do strive to avoid hypocrisy when it comes to personal freedoms.)

Zip

This is absolutely outrageous.

I understand that it's important for Medicaid to provide the medicine that people need, but my goodness, look who you're giving things to.

This is like giving a convicted murderer a box of bullets every month.

These people are considered Level 3 offenders which means they have a high chance of doing it again. So we, the taxpayers should swallow the cost of supplying them with ammo to rape? No thanks.

About time someone noticed this and hopefully it'll get taken care of real quick.

Wow. I'm not sure how I feel about this but now News-Leader.com has completely changed the story in order to make it seem as if the Feds are trying to prevent Viagra to convicted sex offenders. Here is the 'revised' story:

Feds Try to Deny Viagara to Sex Offenders
Federal officials are scrambling to find a way to plug a legal loophole that allows convicted rapists and other high-risk sex offenders to receive erectile-dysfunction drugs paid for by Medicaid.

The issue was revealed Sunday by the New York state comptroller's office, which said audits covering the period of January 2000 to March 2005 found 198 sex offenders in New York received Medicaid-reimbursed Viagra after their convictions. Their crimes included offenses against children as young as 2 years old, Comptroller Alan Hevesi said.

"Now that this issue has been brought to our attention, we are certainly going to see what we can do administratively, if anything," said Mary Kahn, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
hosted.ap.org...

Sort of correct. The feds (likely not intentionally) have been allowing this to go on since 1998. Now that the NY State Comptroller publicly pointed out the problem, the feds will have no choice but to join in.

NY's two senators hopped on board immediately, I'm sure others will too.

The basic choices HHS faces are either change the process yourself, or the Senators will be proposing legislation to force you to change it.

Either way it's an unacceptable practice that has to stop. We're talking about level 3 sex offenders here, including child rapists. Explain to me how the hell my taxes go to make sure a child rapist doesn't have ED and can perform for his next rape.

The feds realize there's no arguing against that line of thinking and will fall into place fairly quickly I'm sure.

In another turn of events, the story has once again spun again. This is the new 'revamped' headline and story.

States May Deny Viagra to Sex Offenders
A federal agency has begun notifying all 50 states that they don't have to offer Medicaid-funded Viagra to sex offenders, a step taken after it was discovered that more than 400 convicted sex offenders in New York and Florida were reimbursed for the erectile dysfunction drug.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services acted swiftly Monday, one day after the New York comptroller's office said audits from 2000 through March found that 198 rapists and other high-risk sex offenders in the state received Medicaid-reimbursed Viagra after their convictions.

Their crimes included offenses against children as young as 2, Comptroller Alan Hevesi said. The report sent the Bush administration scrambling to find a way to close the loophole.

hosted.ap.org...

what the heck is medicaid even involved in reimbursting drugs that encourage sex to begin with???

Isn't the encouragement of those activities liable to increase the population of those dependent on medicaid to begin with??

.............hmm...........maybe they are on to something??

what a perverse government and society we have.........