Viagra for high-risk sex offenders?

A federal agency began notifying states Monday that they do not have to pay for &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2002/06/05/29832.html ' target=_blank>Viagra for convicted rapists and other high-risk sex offenders.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services acted one day after the New York comptroller's office said audits from 2000 through March found that 198 sex offenders in the state received Medicaid-reimbursed Viagra after their convictions. Their crimes included offenses against children as young as 2, Comptroller Alan Hevesi said.

New York auditors didn't review situations in other states, but Hevesi's spokesman, David Neustadt, said policies on Viagra under the health care program for the poor and elderly are apparently the same across the country, reports ABC News.

Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said later Monday that Medicaid has paid $93,000 to provide Viagra to 218 sex offenders in that state over the past four years.