How long did it take for someone to question this? I'd like to see this Clinton era letter and find out who authorized it and if they are still in the government.
Sexual predators and convicted rapists will no longer qualify for free, taxpayer-funded Viagra.
Red-faced officials at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services withdrew the freebie yesterday - and blamed the mess on a Clinton administration foulup.
"The Medicaid program should not pay for the cost of erectile dysfunction drugs for sex offenders," spokesman Gary Karr said.
Notices were to go out to states as early as yesterday - less than 24 hours after state Controller Alan Hevesi revealed that 198 of New York's most dangerous sex fiends were getting reimbursed for the impotence drug, courtesy of Medicaid.
Karr said state officials were apparently unaware they didn't have to include Viagra as part of the sex offenders' Medicaid coverage because they were "confused" by a 1998 Clinton-era letter. That letter listed Viagra as a drug that could be covered by Medicaid.
Hevesi's disclosure of the bizarre drug benefit prompted Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to draft federal legislation banning Viagra coverage for all sex offenders on Medicaid. His fellow Democrat Sen. Hillary Clinton also put out a statement decrying the free Viagra for fiends.
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