It isn't available yet through Medicare.  The Medicare drug benefit plan
is supposed to go into effect next year, I believe, and you will
probably have to sign up for it this year.  Some of the available plans
may cover Viagra and some may not.  I'm not sure whether Medicare
required all of them to do it or just allowed them to do it.  If Cong.
King has his way, none of them will.

These plans will be very confusing, and it is not clear that all people
under Mediare will actually get more out of them than they put in
through premiums, which will be substantial.  One problem is that if
total payments for your drugs exceeds about $3500, then you are
responsible for the rest until some higher sum---I think it is $5000,
but I'm not sure---is reached.  Then catastrophic coverage comes into
effect and pays most of the cost beyond that.   Another gotcha is that
you have to sign up early to be covered later when you may need the
coverage more.  If you wait, the premiums go up rather steeply.  Also,
he private drug plans can drop medications at any time without warning.

Another feature of the bill is that you may get better drug coverage if
you sign up for coverage for all your medical needs through an HMO.  My
experience with a medicare HMO (Humana) would not encourge me to join
such a plan.  For people who stay with traditional Medicare, the drug
coverage won't be as good.

If you have supplementary retiree drug coverage through your employer,
then you may be able to continue with that, and your employer will even
receive payments from the government as an inducement for not dropping
drug coverage.   Only it turns out that in some cases, they will get the
money but not provide coverage equal to what you could get outside their
plan.

This is all going to be very confusing, so you should study it very
carefully before deciding what to do.  And you may find you get the
short end of the stick in any event.

On February 3, Leonard Evens wrote,in pertinent part:

Hmmm, a bit of political spin, perhaps?

I must admire Len's ability to read the minds of those who oppose that
which
he advocates.

How about reading the minds of those who insist that Lupron and Zoladex
(e.g.) 4-month injections be done on a calendar-month schedule instead
of a (for example) 16-week (112-day) schedule as is called for in the
package inserts? It has to do with saving a couple hundred bucks per
patient per year and to hell with proper medical protocol.

IOW, let's not concern ourselves with sexual slap & tickle but with real
life-affecting matters.

Regards,

Steve J
__
"Men occasionally stumble on the truth, but most of them pick themselves
up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."
-- Sir Winston L. S. Churchill

One thing Viagra opponents forget is that usually a couple is involved.
 While it is possible for a couple to have a satisfying sexual
experience without drugs like Viagra, the drug does provide one
important option.  And it is as important for the man's spouse as it iis
for him.

Like any other drug, Viagra and similar drugs can be misued, but they
can be important for maintaining quality of life for older couples.
Quality of life also enters into other medical decisions.   For example,
Medicare happily paid for my cataract surgery.  But since I'm retired,
one could argue that I didn't need it.  After all, why should Medicare
pay for such recreational activities like reading and watching TV.  None
of those are related to procreation, so clearly they are recreational.
Similarly, for hearing aids.