Leading up to Wisconsin’s fierce gubernatorial recall election, the Milwaukee Teachers’ Union raised an excited media buzz. Its juicy subject? The union’s lawsuit over the dropped coverage of Viagra by its health insurance plans. (Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs were covered from 2002-2005. In 2004, such prescriptions cost the school board more than $200k per year.) The union said the dropped coverage discriminates against male employees, as its plans do cover medications for female sexual dysfunction. The school board, facing a $10 million dollar deficit, said it was too expensive. The suit, like the coverage before it, was eventually dropped.
The National Education Association reports that just one in five public school teachers are men, and one in nine are elementary school teachers. The total number of male teachers in the U.S. is at a 40-year low, insufficient pay and benefits most often cited as the reasons.