Sex Offenders Received Viagra in New Jersey
TRENTON, May 26 (AP) - More than a quarter of New Jersey sex offenders considered most likely to commit new crimes got erectile dysfunction drugs through Medicaid, state officials said on Thursday.
According to data released by the Department of Human Services, New Jersey paid for Viagra and similar drugs for 55 high-risk sex offenders over the past year and a half at a total cost of $12,000 to $15,000.
The state has 207 offenders classified as “Tier 3″ - released convicts who are considered most likely to commit more sex crimes - and at least 1,500 additional offenders on its Sex Offender Registry. It has not yet been determined how many offenders on the full list have received the drugs, but 55 of the Tier 3 offenders did, the agency said.
Earlier this week, the federal Department of Health and Human Services told all state Medicaid directors to stop offering coverage for the drugs to convicted sex offenders. The issue became widely publicized after Alan G. Hevesi, the New York State comptroller, said on Sunday that 198 rapists and other high-risk sex offenders in New York were reimbursed for the drugs over the past five years. Like their counterparts in many states, New Jersey officials began checking records on Monday.
Human Services, which runs the Medicaid, NJ Family Care and General Assistance programs, and the Department of Health and Senior Services, which operates Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled, will begin informing pharmacists on Friday to stop dispensing the drugs to the offenders.
Over all, New Jersey covered the costs of Viagra, Levitra, Cialis and similar drugs for 18,163 people through Medicaid, NJ Family Care and General Assistance in 2004 at a cost of $3.9 million.
