If you’ve noticed over the last few days, the protests in Madison have gotten smaller. They’ve actually shrunk in size. Despite a visit from Fidel Castro Michael Moore over the weekend, the three-week old protests have just sort of begun to peter out. Now, there could be a perfectly good explanation for this, or it could just be they’ve decided fighting over the small things isn’t keeping their members energized enough, because on Monday…
The Milwaukee teachers union has dropped a lawsuit seeking to get its taxpayer-funded Viagra back.
The union sued in July 2010 to force the school board to again include the erectile dysfunction drug and similar pills in its health insurance plans.
Wait a minute! You mean you didn’t know that the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association was fighting to save their $786,000 (per year) purple pill-popping habit?
Two years ago [in 2008], the Milwaukee school district decided that it was more interested in enhancing teacher performance in the classroom than the bedroom.
The district cut Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs like Cialis and Levitra from its health insurance plan, hoping to save $786,000 a year.Officials said too many teachers were using the expensive drugs for recreation, swelling their insurance rates. An estimated 1,000 of the 10,000 school’s staff, which includes employees, dependents and retirees, were using the drugs.
[snip]
Kris Collett, spokesman for the MTEA, said the union had filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Equal Rights Division in 2008, but it was dismissed on procedural grounds in 2009. Now, the union has appealed to the Labor and Industry Review Commission to go forward with the lawsuit.
“The health plan provides medications to women for similar medical conditions, but men are excluded from pharmacy treatment,” said Collett, referring to insurance coverage for female sexual dysfunction treatments like vaginal creams, estrogen and anti-bacterial medicine.
The health plan still covers options such as penile pumps and implants, but the union says they are “far less desirable than oral medication,” according to the filing.
So, just to be clear, Wisconsin taxpayers were paying for Milwaukee teachers’ Viagra (to the tune of 3/4 of a million bucks per year). Then, when it was dropped, the union sued, causing Wisconsin taxpayers to pay the legal fees to defend the suit. Now, three weeks into massive protests about reforming collective bargaining for public-sector unions, the union decides to drop its suit.
Talk about a hard argument to make with a straight face.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
Photo credit: El Mundo de Laura
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