Viagra - It's Not For Everyone

Seems the taxpayers have been funding fun for seniors on Medicare to the tune of $3 million. Since 2007 we have been paying for Viagra for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

The Medicare Part D program was not supposed to fund prescriptions for erectile dysfunction but due to a computer glitch the prescription drug program has paid for it any way.

The insurance program for the elderly and disabled paid out an estimated $509 billion in benefits in 2010, about 11% of which went for outpatient prescription drugs.

But still, the inspector general tells CMS to figure out whether it can claw back some of that money from the pharmacy-benefit managers and insurers that sponsor the Part D plans. (They were supposed to know that ED drugs were excluded.)

That is some recall.

All because of a software problem . . .