Teachers: Give Us Viagra!

Some Milwaukee teachers are fighting to get Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs like Cialis and Levitra back on their health insurance plan. Milwaukee Public Schools cut the drugs from its health plan to save at least $786,000 a year, but now the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA), a labor union, is suing the district to get the drugs back into teachers’ health benefits.

The issue has sparked a debate over how many benefits teachers should receive on top of their salaries and retirement plans, as well as a debate over how extensive health care benefits should be for public employees. At the heart of the debate is whether drugs like Viagra, which can cost up to $20 a pill, are absolutely necessary for health, or whether these should be considered “lifestyle” drugs. Many other economic, social and health issues surround the debate, including the extent to which industry is connected to government policy, and profits made by pharmaceutical corporations like Pfizer.

The Milwaukee school district had previously included Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs in its health insurance plan, but decided to end that benefit two years ago, according to ABC News. MTEA then filed a sex discrimination complaint with Wisconsin’s Equal Rights Division in 2008, saying that the district’s health plan provides insurance coverage to women for sexual dysfunction treatments like vaginal creams, estrogen and anti-bacterial medicine, and thus, should provide drugs like Viagra for men.

“This exclusion from an otherwise comprehensive pharmacy plan is discriminatory against men, and creates barriers to receiving medically necessary treatment. MTEA does not believe any person should be subjected to discrimination,”

MTEA says in a statement, saying erectile dysfunction is an “exclusively male condition” associated with heart disease, diabetes, prostate cancer, and other conditions.

But not everyone agrees that the exclusion discriminates in the way MTEA claims. Some say that the state can’t provide everything that everyone wants and must make hard choices about how to best use resources, particularly during a sticky recession that’s affected tax proceeds and forced many states to tighten budgets. Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett wrote a letter to MTEA president Mike Langyel, urging MTEA to drop its lawsuit.

“This decision (to sue Milwaukee Public Schools) comes just weeks after MPS laid off 482 teachers because of tight budget constraints. Even with recent reinstatements, hundreds of teachers have lost their jobs, which means larger class sizes and less individual attention for students in the classroom. In addition, recent years have seen significant tax increases on home and property owners for school purposes. As governor I will work to invest more resources to strengthen education in Wisconsin. However, I believe education dollars should be devoted to enhance performance in the classroom,”

Langyel wrote.

Photo by SElefant via Wikimedia Commons. Four Viagra capsules.