Sex Offenders Were Reimbursed for Viagra

Scores of convicted rapists and other high-risk sex offenders in New York have been getting Viagra paid by Medicaid for the last five years, the state’s comptroller said in Albany.

Audits by Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi’s office showed that between January 2000 and March 2005, 198 sex offenders received Medicaid-reimbursed Viagra after their convictions.

Hevesi asked Michael Leavitt, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in a letter to “ensure that sex offenders do not receive erectile dysfunction medication paid for by taxpayers.”