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Benefits April 25, 2001
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.
Reported by Nevin E. Adams
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.