ORLANDO, Fla., -- A Local 6 News investigation uncovered Florida Medicaid records showing millions of your tax dollars paying for other people's sex lives.
The drugs, including Viagra, Cialis, Levitra and Caverject, are costing taxpayers about $17.3 million, according to Local 6 News.
"That's $17 million of your tax money that's going to pay for Viagra," Local 6 News reporter Wendy Saltzman said.
"That's horrible, that's horrible," a taxpayer said. "I want my money back."
State Sen. Gary Siplin is calling for an investigation into the possible abuse of Medicaid funds after hearing about the Local 6 News report.
"I think this is evidence of fraud," Siplin said. "I want to see whose benefiting from it. I don't think it's the patients."
State law limits "one dose per month for any drug prescribed to treat erectile dysfunction," according to the report.
However, Local 6 News found in once case a patient was prescribed 240 pills of Viagra for a 30 day supply -- about eight pills a day. Taxpayers paid more than $2,100 for the pills, according to the report.
"Obviously this requires an investigation of the utilization of money, of state taxpayer dollars on Viagra," Siplin said.
Local 6 News traveled to Tallahassee to question the Agency for Health Care Administration about the use of Medicaid funds.
"These drugs are provided through an agreement between the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Drug Manufacturers," spokeswoman Sybil Richard said. "Once that agreement is signed, the states are required to cover those drugs."
Richard and Dr. Sigfredo Aldarondo said the hundreds of cases Local 6 News uncovered for the report where patients were prescribed between 90 and 240 pills of Viagra a month were cases where the sex drug is being used to treat an "off-label" medical condition -- a condition the drug has never been approved for.
"We use it to treat a condition called pulmonary hypertension," Aldarondo said.
The Food and Drug Administration has only approved the use of Viagra for the treatment of erectile dysfunction and not pulmonary disease.
"I don't think we are spending any more for Viagra than we are spending for some other very necessary medical treatments," Richard said.
Most of the $17 million worth of prescriptions were single dose uses, prescribed simply for the purpose of having sex, Local 6 News found.
Dr. Lewis Curtwright has prescribed more Viagra than any other doctor in Central Florida, according to the report.
"Do you think that is a good use of taxpayer's money?" Saltzman asked.
"Well, my job is not to think what's the taxpayers money," Curtwright said.
In comparison to Viagra and other sex drugs, Local 6 News found Medicaid does not cover fertility drugs for women that may be medically necessary for reproduction.
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
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Millions Of Tax Dollars Paying For People's Sex Lives
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