Stossel: Should Govt. Pay for Viagra?

June 28 -- Insurance was designed to protect us when the unexpected happens — accidents, floods, fire — catastrophes that cost more than most of us can pay. Severe illness is a good reason to have insurance. But today people want insurance to cover everything — including help with their sex lives.

New York state alone spent $6 million buying Viagra last year. You taxpayers must pay because Viagra is now covered by Medicaid, the government's health plan for poor people.

The reason you're paying for it now is because four years ago, the Clinton administration told states they have to.

Current federal officials have kept the policy. They say they are just following Congress' demand that the government pay for all FDA-approved medication.

This is bad policy because insurance is a miserably inefficient way to pay for anything. Insurance companies have to document everything — for even the most minor medical services — to try to keep you from cheating. Yet despite the endless paperwork, people still cheat taxpayers out of several million dollars a day. It's a reason Medicaid, which now pays for Viagra, is cutting back on other things.

As ABCNEWS reported earlier this year, a free health clinic in Burbank, Calif., may be forced to close because of deep cuts in Medicaid funding.

Yet in my state, New York, spending on Viagra is doubling year by year.

Dr. Steven Lamm, who wrote a book about Viagra, is one of many doctors who say states should pay for it.

Lamm said, "Erectile dysfunction is not fun. It's a disease … needs to be treated, needs to be paid for."

So is sex a government entitlement now? The costs are doubling every year. At this rate,