Word: viagra
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...name, announced that it had decided not to cover the cost of the $10 erection pill for its 9 million members. Just three weeks later, the little pill had become a symbol of one of the nation's hottest political issues: what HMOs do and don't pay for. Viagra's role in the debate was heightened last week when the federal agency that administers Medicaid told the states that they were required to cover Viagra for the indigent and infirm "when medical necessity dictates," and some of the states--much like tightfisted HMOs--dug in their heels and refused...
What happened? When did tumescence become a medical necessity, and how did health reform rise from its long slumber to become an issue of burning national interest? Perhaps Viagra was just a media catalyst, the populist hook that finally put managed care back on the front page. Or perhaps the politicians in Washington, searching desperately for emotional issues at a time of peace and prosperity, finally found a point of irritation to which they can apply some soothing legislative balm...
...While Viagra provided a spark, the embers of discontent have been smoldering for some time. Back in 1993, when Hillary Clinton proposed her grandiose plan for curbing rising health-care costs and covering the uninsured, the American people made it clear that they didn't want the Clintons or anyone else in government telling them which doctors they could choose or what pills they could take. What most folks didn't realize was that if government didn't do it, somebody else would. That somebody turned out to be America's employers, working hand-in-glove with the insurance companies...
...course, this convergence has seemed "imminent" to Malone for the past half-decade, but new technology--most of it based on the Internet--seems likely to deliver, finally, on these rich promises. And Malone, among others, is imagining quite a future: "Would you like to order Viagra while watching your favorite entertainment show?" he quips...
...their deal is approved, Malone and Armstrong hope the merger will be a kind of business Viagra for AT&T's famously languid corporate culture. The two say their merged companies could start phasing in these hot new services swiftly. About 25% of TCI's systems will have the capacity to carry two-way traffic by the end of this year, with 95% scheduled to be ready by the end of 2000. At the same time, AT&T plans to spend some $400 per household to install the digital set-top boxes that will serve as portals to high-speed...