Men aren’t getting the help they need for ED — here’s why

Men aren’t getting the help they need for ED — here’s why

In an era of remote care and expanding access to men’s health treatments, it would seem as if erectile dysfunction (ED) is easier to talk about. But, for many men, ED remains challenging to treat. New survey and prescription data reveal a disconnect between the number of men struggling with ED and those actually getting help, reports GoodRx, a platform for medication savings.

Nearly 30% of men report difficulty achieving or maintaining an erection without medication. That number is even higher for older men. Yet just 14% of all respondents say they’re currently using any treatment to support ED.

Key takeaways:

• Nearly 30% of men report erectile dysfunction (ED), yet just 14% use any treatment. Even with telehealth services, there are barriers to care, including cost, stigma, and confusion.
• In 2018, commercial insurance accounted for 51% of ED prescription claims, but by 2024, that share had fallen to 22%, indicating that the way men are paying for their prescription is changing.
• ED prescription fill rates vary across the country. On the whole, growth in prescription fills for ED treatment has plateaued.

GoodRx

ED is common. Treatment? Not as much

Given the prevalence of ED, a strikingly low percentage of people actually treat ED. This gap between experience and treatment is especially notable given that more than half of men who do use ED medications say that the impact has been positive or highly positive. Only 9% report any negative effect.

So, what is stopping men from treating ED? GoodRx Research ran a national survey to get to the bottom of it. Here’s what men reported as the top three reasons for not treating ED:

• Concerns about side effects: 35%
• Cost: 33%
• Stigma or embarrassment: 32%

Others said they didn’t know where to seek treatment or didn’t have time to schedule an appointment, suggesting that even in a digital-first health era, convenience and confidence remain barriers.

The daily toll is quietly widespread. Nearly one in two men with ED say that ED has a moderate to significant impact on their everyday lives — a figure that speaks to both the emotional and relational dimensions of the condition.
 

GoodRx

A patchwork of access

Prescription data reveals stark regional differences. For example, men in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Florida, and Massachusetts have the highest relative fill rates for ED medications. In Rhode Island, men are nearly twice as likely to fill an ED prescription compared to the national average. Rates are far lower in parts of the South and rural Midwest.
 

GoodRx

These differences likely reflect broader structural factors — not just population health, but insurance coverage, stigma, and the ease of getting prescriptions filled.

But nationally, growth in prescription fills for ED treatment has plateaued. After a sharp rise between 2019 and 2021, driven by new digital services and growing awareness, ED medication fill rates have hovered around 1% of all prescription fills for the past two years. Month after month, despite increased visibility and options, the share of men filling these prescriptions has remained virtually unchanged.

Paying for ED prescriptions

And the way men pay for these prescriptions is shifting. Commercial insurance accounted for over half of ED prescriptions in 2018. By 2024, that number had fallen to just 22%.
 

GoodRx

At the same time, use of assistance programs — including discount cards like GoodRx and manufacturer copay cards — has nearly tripled, now accounting for 59% of fills. Cash payments have also ticked up slightly, while Medicare’s share has steadily declined. In a landscape of eroding traditional insurance coverage, these trends point to growing reliance on affordability programs and out-of-pocket options.

Summing it all up

For many, ED remains a quietly lived condition — one that’s common, impactful, and often untreated. Despite the growing number of online treatment services, barriers persist: high costs, privacy concerns, and a sense that the options available aren’t always built for ease or discretion.

This disconnect suggests that existing offerings — while helpful for some — haven’t closed the gap. Whether it’s cost, comfort, or confidence, many men still find it easier to live with ED than to navigate the system designed to help them.

Methodology

Our survey was run through YouGov from February 14, 2025 to April 16, 2025. Our sample population was men who were prescribed a medication in the prior month; 1,332 responses were collected and analyzed. Survey responses were weighted to the U.S. population using age, gender, race, political affiliation, and education level. The YouGov survey research arm provides more information.

For claims-based analyses, we studied the following ED medications:

• Aavanafil (Stendra)
• Caverject
• Caverject Impulse
• Edex
• Muse
• Sildenafil (Viagra)
• Tadalafil (Cialis)
• Vardenafil (Staxyn)

GoodRx calculated the fill rate for ED medications by taking the fill count for ED medications as a percentage of fills for all medications, excluding vaccines, used a representative sample of U.S. prescription fills, andcalculated state-level fill rates for claims filled between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2025.

Estimates for distribution of ED prescription claims by channel based on analysis of IQVIA data for paid claims from January 2018 to December 2024.

This story was produced by GoodRx and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.