He doesn't want to have to pay out of pocket for his Viagra.
Cindy can't get pregnant so birth control is not an issue for him.
McCain Declines To Answer Question Re Birth Control
DAILY WOMEN'S HEALTH POLICY REPORT
ELECTION 2008 | McCain Declines To Answer Question About Insurance Coverage for Birth Control
[July 10, 2008]
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) on Wednesday declined to answer a question about whether insurance companies should be allowed to cover Viagra but not birth control medications, the AP/Google.com reports http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i3zx0IxRirh0dX7k5jsHJp7_YG... (Babington, AP/Google.com, 7/9).
Carly Fiorina -- former CEO of Hewlett Packard and one of McCain's head surrogates -- on Monday raised the issue when discussing McCain's health care plan, the Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-carly10-2008jul10,... reports. Fiorina said, "Let me give you a real, live example, which I've been hearing a lot about from women. There are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won't cover birth control medication. Those women would like a choice" (Decker, Los Angeles Times, 7/10). NARAL Pro-Choice America http://naral.org/ President Nancy Keenan said a McCain presidency would offer women no such choice. "Obviously, she doesn't know his record," Keenan said, adding, "He really did vote against a proposal that would have required insurance companies" to cover prescription contraceptives in the same way they cover Viagra (Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/09/M... , 7/10).
When asked about the vote on his campaign bus Wednesday, McCain said, "I don't know enough about it to give you an informed answer because I don't recall the vote. ... I don't usually duck an issue, but I'll try to get back to you." McCain campaign spokesperson Brian Rogers said Fiorina was discussing McCain's "vision for choice and competition in health insurance," adding that McCain would open insurance markets "for greater variety and competition, allowing women to choose policies that fit their needs. An example is the choice for women to dump a policy that only covers Viagra for a policy that covers their real needs" (AP/Google.com, 7/9). Another McCain aide added that the senator opposes mandating coverage for certain medications. The aide said the bill McCain voted against also included a provision the senator opposed that mandated coverage for emergency contraceptives (Cooper, "The Caucus," "The Caucus", http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/sex-drugs-and-i... 7/9).
Keenan said that it was not the first time Fiorina misrepresented McCain's position -- citing Fiorina's comments to supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) that McCain "has never signed on to efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade." According to the Chronicle, McCain repeatedly has said during his presidential campaign that Roe should be overturned (San Francisco Chronicle, 7/10). During a campaign appearance in Portsmouth, Ohio, McCain said that there is a "big difference" between his position on abortion and that of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) ("Political Ticker," http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/09/mccain-takes-... CNN, 7/9). McCain criticized Obama for voting against a ban on so-called "partial-birth" abortion in the Illinois Legislature, and said that one way to improve U.S. families would be to "respect human life both born and unborn" (Martin, The Politico http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/McCain_hits... , 7/9).
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This explains it better that I can. What an out of touch old coot he is.
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"It's something I hadn't thought much about...." Gee, one drug is necessary to make a guy's dick hard when nature alone no longer suffices, the other to prevent an unwanted pregnancy and thus completely *avoid* any issue as to abortion. I think folks who are indigent or in our armed services should have *both* types of prescriptions paid for, but I am not in any way willing to concede that it requires a degree in rocket science to see the stunning disparity in covering one set of drugs but not the other.
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Hi Stacey. Apparently this has gone unnoticed by mccain. Go figure!!
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I haven't read you other blogs yet, the one on taxes was very good. but can you tell me How the president has the power to tell companies who they should run and what they should cover. I mean since Obama never actully held a company office, but michele did you have to look at her, and in the health feild at that, where as she sat on the board of directors her hospital charged three times high rates to those non white with out insurance for health care. did any of you guys send her a memo asking her why?
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The President has the power to sign legislation, yes? You want a President who thinks it appropriate NOT to cover contraception for poor women? Even though we cover Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs for poor men? And although McCain ducked the question this time, dogg, that is what his past votes reflect that he would do -- not require private insurance companies to offer contraceptive reimbursement or coverage to their insureds, not have medicaid cover contraceptives for poor women, not have Uncle Sam pay for contraception for female soldiers and sailors and marines, etc. He's a fossil. And I'm not going to follow your red herring regarding Michelle Obama; she's NOT the candidate, I'm not voting for her, and she's not the issue.
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he has the power to sign a bill, not make a bill. Lady , I agree with you about 42% of the time. and I think those women should have more coming to them. Like I don't agree with breast inplant in the military budget. you lose your mind check that fact out. But the goverment can not force a company to do something, that is socailism. Now if planned parent hood what to cover that bill, or another Org, who get goverment money then yeah It should be covered. But places like blue shield, and cobra, are a private buesniess
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It is not socialism to say that certain procedures must be covered. Sorry, dogg. And contraceptives are one of the things that if a company is going to offer a pharmaceutical plan to its employees, then not offering contraception but offering stuff like Viagra not only looks discriminatory, it IS discriminatory. And I fail to see what in heaven's name it has to do with breast implants...major apples and oranges difference there, or pills versus mangos. ;-)
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the difference is this. goverment pays for breast inplants with the high number of sexual harassment this is just a bad idea inthe military.
Insurance company is that, a privatly own comapny, is it wrong yeah. i don't think they should cover viagra for men. But that is not a presidents job to tell a company what to do. It be like the presidenttelling Burger king to sell pizzas -
No, sorry, pizza and contraception are not the same, dogg. Once a decision is made to offer pharmaceutical coverage, not offering one of the most commonly requested drugs for women in their child-bearing years is discriminatory. Period. And government can butt in for precisely the same reasons it can butt in as to whether restaurants, hotels, etc., open their doors to ALL comers of all nationalities, ethnicities, colors, religions, etc. And once again, on the breast implant thing, you are gonna have to pretend I'm from Missouri and show me, because Uncle Sam does not pay for anything that is not medically necessary for the indigent or for enlisted/military personnel and while a breast reduction can be for medically necessary reasons, I cannot fathom (other than cancer treatment resulting in mastectomy) where implants would EVER be anything other than cosmetic and therefore elective. So respectfully I am just not buying it.
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http://www.military.com/NewsC...
Other surgery offered
Defense Department spokesman James Turner said the military is bound by federal law to uphold the abortion ban, and that it is not in the business of providing what it considers elective procedures such as abortions.
That doesn't stop the military from offering service members vasectomies and cosmetic surgery, including liposuction, breast implants and nose jobs.
But I agree with ya they should offer those pills to all women, My wife gets hers at plan parenthood. -
Wow! Thanks for giving me the citation... Even though the article includes the following quote -- "In the case of cosmetic surgery, at least, that's because such operations are not necessarily elective, Turner said. Rather, they are aimed at keeping military surgeons up to date in reconstructive surgery, a crucial element in treating combat wounds." -- I am damned if I can see any reason whatever for breast implants to be done on Uncle Sam's dime OTHER than if an indigent woman or military personnel is having breast reconstruction surgery after a post-cancer mastectomy or lumpectomy. That's simply ridiculous and an utter waste of taxpayers' money... I don't have any such qualms about abortion, however, because abortion is an equal protection issue in addition to a right to privacy issue -- if the military and Uncle Sam are going to fund indigent men's and military personnel's vasectomies and/or vasectomy reversals (both of which they do), then they should be ponying up the bread to pay for indigent women and military personnel to get abortions.
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I'm good with that. Then I have personal feeling of women on marine bases.
Ins. companies will cover an abortion just not the means to avoid one. Just like they don't seem to want to cover prescrption cost to help you quit smoking, but I'm sure the lung transplant surgery will be covered...
Ins. companies don't seem to like mitigating their costs.