home message archive theme Because I could not be a superhero, I settled for being a behavioral neuroendocrinologist instead.

I have two other blogs, which are about comics: Justice, Like Lightning (a Thunderbolts blog), and Unlicensed Super Hero (a general comics blog). If I'm following you and you're not sure why, there you go.

1. Erectile dysfunction drugs
From Viagra to Cialis, if a man has trouble getting or maintaining an erection (a common occurrence with age or with certain diseases), a pharmaceutical company has a $15 pill for that. And, in many cases, the man’s insurance company picks up the tab.

2. Vacuum erection devices
Famously covered by Medicare (as well as some private insurance companies), men with erectile dysfunction that won’t or can’t go the pill route do have a another option. Though it first raised eyebrows in Austin Powers and is better known as a masturbatory aide, vacuum erection devices do work as advertised by will cost insurance companies $300-$500 a pop.

3. Penile implants
If a man’s erectile dysfunction can’t be mitigated with pharmaceuticals or vacuum devices, there’s yet another method insurance companies will pay for afflicted men to try: penile implants. Though most urologists tend to use more modern inflatable models, which require users to manually inflate their own erections, some urologists hew to the older semi-rigid models despite their potential complications. Either way, the $10,000-$20,000 cost of the implants is often covered by insurance, particularly if the erectile dysfunction is the result of a disease or a side effect of surgery.

4. Vasectomies
Non-permanent male birth control options are still limited to condoms, the Vatican-approved rhythm method and the Biblically-condemned pull-out method. But for those men absolutely convinced their child-bearing days should come to an end before their intercourse-having days, a $500-$1,000 vasectomy is usually covered by their insurance. (Notably, most insurance plans do not cover a $6,000-$15,000 vasectomy reversal.)

5. Circumcision
Though circumcision is the subject of much debate in the United States, it is not considered a medically necessary procedure in most cases. Nonetheless, most private insurers cover circumcisions for newborns (which can cost about $100 out-of-pocket) and a few companies cover adult circumcision, which is significantly more expensive.

I’m not saying that these are frivolous things, but denying access to most of them does not increase the likelihood that the individual will be saddled with the financial burden of a child.