<p>Georgians who can't afford Viagra should not receive it, said Gov. Sonny Perdue.</p><p>Georgia taxpayers spent more than $250,000 for 1,534 Medicaid recipients to receive erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra, Levitra and Cialis between April 2004 and last month, and the governor wants it to stop.</p><p>Five of the recipients were registered sex offenders. The state Department of Community Health released the numbers this week amid a nationwide controversy over sex offenders receiving the drugs through Medicaid.</p><p>The state already has decided to stop providing the drugs to sex offenders, but Perdue and other officials say the drugs should not be provided to any of the 1.5 million Georgians on Medicaid, a program that provides health insurance to the poor and disabled.</p><p>"It is my belief that filling prescriptions for these types of medications is an inappropriate use of taxpayer money," Perdue said in a Tuesday letter to Georgia's congressmen. "Impotence drugs should be categorized with drugs for fertility, smoking, weight loss and other 'lifestyle drugs' that are not required to be covered by Medicaid."</p><p>Georgia's Medicaid program pays for the drugs because of a 1998 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services decision that Medicaid should pay for the drugs when doctors say they are needed, said state Department of Community Health Commissioner Tim Burgess.</p><p>However, Gary Karr, a spokesman for the federal agency, said states are allowed to define "medically necessary." Texas, Tennessee and Wisconsin do not pay for the drugs, he said, but the drugs will be available to treat pulmonary hypertension.</p><p>"Once you decide something is medically necessary, you have to cover it," Karr said, adding that in fiscal 2005 states spent $38 million of the collective $295 billion Medicaid dollars on erectile dysfunction drugs.</p><p>One health care professional said the governor's decision is "irresponsible and shows little regard for the impact on people and their relationships."</p><p>Many Medicaid patients receive the drugs because erectile dysfunction is a symptom of serious health problems, such as spinal cord injuries, said Mark Johnson, director of advocacy for the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, a catastrophic care hospital.</p><p>Drug manufacturers also are watching the issue closely.</p><p>Clint Austin, a Georgia-based lobbyist for Pfizer, which makes Viagra, said economically disadvantaged patients should not be denied the drugs because the state Department of Community Health determines who will receive the drugs and how much the state will pay for them.</p><p>"Erectile dysfunction often results from diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other serious diseases," Austin said. "We think it is a wise policy to cover all the serious symptoms of people suffering from disease. Erectile dysfunction is a serious and life-altering symptom of disease. We think we should treat the entire patient."</p><p>One of Perdue's advisers, however, said the issue comes down to money.</p><p>Cuts are imminent in Medicaid funding, which forces government officials to scrutinize all expenditures, so erectile dysfunction drugs should not be a top priority, said Patricia Nobbie, public policy director for the Gov.'s Council on Developmental Disabilities, an advisory group.</p><p>"Medicaid dollars are in demand for people with disabilities," Nobbie said. "Maybe we need to think about the Medicaid priorities for those most in need."</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cdcd88)</p>
