In a highly publicized case, a Frankfurt court ruled that the local welfare office must pay for Viagra pills for a 54-year-old former cook named Karlheinz Friedrich. He has needed treatment for impotence since a car crash in 1997.
The state health insurance system has been paying for regular potency injections but Friedrich petitioned for a daily Viagra pill instead, which would cost 500 euros per month. After the welfare office rejected the bid, he went to court and won.
"Once a day is completely normal," the man told the court. He said he and his wife want children and will fight any appeals court rulings that reduce their taxpayer-funded sex to less than once a day.
"Otherwise I'll sue again," said Friedrich, who got tips from a best-selling book, My Right to Welfare Assistance.
Another celebrated case of welfare exploitation stirred public ire earlier this year. A popular singer named Juliette Schoppmann admitted she had her breast implants paid for by health insurers.
It raised eyebrows about the treatment Germans receive with state help, especially in an era when the economy has stopped growing and the term "miracle" hasn't been used in years.
But government cuts to services have met angry resistance from patients loath to give up treatments such as health spa visits, cooking courses, and even insurer-funded taxi fares.
With his benefits about to be cut, "Florida Rolf" said he isn't sure what he's going to do.
"I don't have any social ties to Germany anymore," he said in an interview with Germany's ARD television on Tuesday. "I don't have any ties to Germany at all."
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