The very limited ED treatment coverage of Medicare and Medicaid has shrunk even further. However, the ready availability of lower-cost generic ED medications might help to soften the blow.
Alexander Graham Bell, the Scottish-born inventor of the telephone, once sagely observed that “when one door closes, another opens.”
And, although there might be a bit of time between the closing of that one door and the opening of the other, that sentiment has been borne out in much of modern history.
Penis Pumps No Longer Covered
In just one such example, what little coverage Medicare and Medicaid gave to the noninvasive treatment of erectile dysfunction has virtually disappeared over the past few years. In 2015, Medicare stopped covering the cost of vacuum constriction devices, also known as penis pumps, a somewhat awkward but nevertheless viable treatment for ED.
And neither Medicare nor Medicaid offers reimbursement for the oral ED drugs, such as Viagra and Cialis, that are known as PDE5 inhibitors. Current budgetary pressures on these agencies make it unlikely that there will be any new initiatives to cover ED treatment, at least within the foreseeable future.
Selection of Generic ED Drugs Grows
If we consider those events collectively as one door closing, the door that has opened is represented by the growing availability of lower-priced ED medications that began with the December 2017 debut of generic Viagra.
As of early 2019, American men with ED had the generic equivalents of Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, and Staxyn available to them. Stendra, the only other brand-name ED drug, was not introduced until 2012 and probably won’t face direct generic competition for a few more years at least.
Men who were using vacuum constriction devices funded, at least in part, under Medicare or Medicaid, have lost that coverage. However, they can now purchase generic oral ED medications for prices that are much lower than those of their brand-name equivalents.
A Welcome Tradeoff
And it’s a tradeoff that’s a welcome one for men who dislike the cumbersome procedures required for the creation of an erection with a vacuum constriction device.
Around in one form or another since the early 20th century, these devices usually consist of a hard plastic cylinder that fits snugly over the flaccid shaft of the penis. Attached to the cylinder is a pump — either hand- or battery-powered — that can extract all the air from within the cylinder. In the resulting vacuum, the penis is no longer subject to external air pressure, making it easier for it to fill with blood and thus create an erection.
The final component of the penis pump is a constriction band that sits at the bottom of the cylinder until the penis within has become fully engorged with blood. At that point, the pump user slips the band from the bottom of the pump onto the base of the penis to keep the erection-making blood from escaping until sexual activity is complete.
As to current ED drug prices, generic equivalents are significantly less expensive than their brand-name medications. The average national cost of brand-name Viagra in mid-May 2019 was $42.09 for a 50-milligram dose (the recommended starting dose). That price was calculated based upon the purchase of 10 Viagra 100-milligram tablets that are split in half to produce 20 50-milligram doses. A similar dose of sildenafil citrate, or generic Viagra, has an average nationwide cost of $19.50, less than half the price of brand-name Viagra.
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Whether it’s brand-name Viagra or its generic equivalent you’re after, eDrugstore.com has got you covered. It supplies all brand-name ED medications as well as the generic equivalents of four of those brand-name drugs. To learn more, visit its Erectile Dysfunction page.
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