Viagra Coverage Generates Discrimination Charge

April 25, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - An American Airlines flight attendant has filed a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), claiming her employee health plan is discriminatory because it does not cover reproductive care for women - but covers Viagra for male employees.

Martina Alexander, 36, claims that after being refused coverage for infertility treatments in 1999 she learned her health plan does not cover pap smears or birth control pills, but does cover Viagra for impotent male employees.

Her claim contends that American’s policy constitutes sex, pregnancy and disability discrimination.

Gus Whitcomb, a spokesman for the 110,000-employee airline, said American’s three basic employee health plans cover all “medically necessary” procedures or medications, according to the Associated Press.  That can include drugs, such as Viagra, prescribed by a physician to treat male impotence.

In December, the EEOC found that excluding contraceptives from health plans discriminates against women, although the decision directly affected only two women.

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