A recent national report that Medicaid has provided Viagra for some former sex offenders, has Iowa officials scrambling to review their healthcare program for low-income clients. The director of Iowa’s Department of Human Services ordered a review after New York and Missouri discovered their state healthcare programs covered prescriptions for the drug used to treat impotence. Up to now, DHS spokesman Roger Munns says the state hasn’t been able to deny that one prescription for clients who meet income eligibility tests. Munns says word has come from the federal government that states do -not- have to cover the cost of that drug for clients who are convicted sex offenders. States now have the authority to review their programs and procedures and work with doctors and pharmacists, to prevent “inappropriate Medicaid payment for these sorts of drugs.” Armed with the policy statement, they’ll now do that, as he explains up to now they haven’t had authority to ask whether clients WERE sex offenders. It’s not clear yet whether any have gotten Viagra through Medicaid in Iowa. The drug’s prescribed to treat erectile dysfunction. If a client has a diagnosis from a doctor, is over age 21 and eligible for Medicaid, the agency has not in the past had authority to ask any other questions. The agency will act now it has authority to make further inquiries. The intent is to make it difficult for people who are sex offenders, and are eligible for Medicaid benefits, to receive these sorts of drugs, he says. Munns says last year about 300 Iowans got Viagra paid for by the Medicaid program, which covers uninsured low-income Iowans. Advocates point out that sex offenders often commit their crimes for violent, not sexual motives, and that people convicted in the past may be working to turn their lives around, establish and maintain a healthy relationship in a current marriage that could be harmed if they’re denied a prescription for the drug.
