# Do more insurance companies cover Viagra over Birth Control Pills?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-more-insurance-companies-cover-viagra-over-birth-control-pills/408610>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [June 19, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-more-insurance-companies-cover-viagra-over-birth-control-pills/408610 "2007-06-19T17:20:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-more-insurance-companies-cover-viagra-over-birth-control-pills/408610/21 "2007-06-24T12:20:41Z")

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[QUOTE=Incubus]  
Every now and then I’ll hear someone grumble about how their insurance doesn’t cover birth control pills, but do cover Viagra, and how unfair is that?  
[/QUOTE]  
Considering that one pill is used by perfectly healthy people to make their perfectly healthy bodies stop doing what healthy bodies do, and the other is used by sick people to make their sick bodies healthy again, I don’t think it’s inherently an unfair choice for a healthcare provider to take.

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**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-more-insurance-companies-cover-viagra-over-birth-control-pills/408610/22 "2007-06-24T14:58:14Z")

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[QUOTE=Cheesesteak]  
Considering that one pill is used by perfectly healthy people to make their perfectly healthy bodies stop doing what healthy bodies do, and the other is used by sick people to make their sick bodies healthy again, I don’t think it’s inherently an unfair choice for a healthcare provider to take.  
[/QUOTE]

I agree, I think it’s apples and oranges. The core function of insurance is to pay for treatment of unexpected problems.

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**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-more-insurance-companies-cover-viagra-over-birth-control-pills/408610/23 "2007-06-25T16:02:45Z")

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Our health insurance got into a bit of trouble when they’d pay for Viagra (except for the patient having the $5 copay) but BCP’s weren’t. A few hundred pissed off women and a mountain of phone calls and e-mails changed that quickly, so now all you pay is $5, no matter how many months the doctor will write the script for.

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