Three words have been circulating in the political sphere since the 2020 presidential campaign picked up speed: \u201cMedicare For All.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prevalence of the term, which many Democrats have endorsed as a solution to the United States\u2019 health coverage dilemma because it would create a universal health care system, exemplifies how the American mainstream has begun to embrace a progressive agenda \u2014 an agenda that also includes support for legal cannabis<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign first put forth the idea of \u201cMedicare For All.\u201d In 2016, Sanders also endorsed legalizing cannabis. This time around, Sanders platform on the two issues\u00a0has remained as progressive as ever<\/a>. However, in much of the discussion around \u201cMedicare For All\u201d and legalizing cannabis, the two issues have stayed relatively separate.<\/p>\n But there is an obvious link between these issues that only some are now starting to make: the high cost of cannabis is keeping it beyond reach for many even in states with medical marijuana programs. Advocates are starting to insist that cannabis will not have truly been liberated until it is covered in health plans, like any other legal medicine.<\/p>\n The cost of medical cannabis is clearly an issue nationwide. For example, in Minnesota, which has had a medical marijuana program since 2014,\u00a0the state\u2019s Bemidji Pioneer\u00a0newspaper<\/a>\u00a0writes that lack of affordable access is the program\u2019s \u201cone major flaw.\u201d It cited state data showing that, last year alone, more than 3,400 new patients dropped out of the program, and attributes this in large part to the high cost of medicine.<\/p>\n Patients told the Pioneer they spend anywhere from $200 to $700 per month on the medication. These costs could be offset if insurance companies covered medical marijuana, but they will not do so until the federal Food & Drug Administration approves it, the Minnesota Council of Health Plans told the newspaper.<\/p>\n In New York, however, lawmakers think they might have worked out a solution. State Sen. Diane Savino and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, both Democrats from New York City, are pushing what the New York Post couldn\u2019t resist calling a \u201cdoobie-ous scheme\u201d that would require government health-insurance programs such as Medicaid, Child Health Plus, Elderly Pharmaceutical Coverage and workers\u2019 compensation to cover cannabis as they would any prescription drug.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unfair not to cover marijuana when opioids, OxyContin and Ambien are covered,\u201d Savino told the Post. \u201cWe have to push the envelope.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawmakers say the idea would help address the opioid crisis that is gripping the state, like all too many across the country. \u00a0\u201cFor thousands of patients, medical marijuana is a safer and more effective medication than other drugs, especially opioids,\u201d Gottfried told the newspaper.<\/p>\n The high prices of cannabis are also an issue in California, the state that pioneered legal medical marijuana with Proposition 215 in 1996. Ironically,\u00a0\u201ccompassionate care\u201d cannabis<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 marijuana donated to needy medical users \u2014 has been dealt a blow by the general legalization approved by voters in 2016. The high taxes on legal cannabis have closed space for compassionate care. A bill to provide tax relief for medicinal cannabis failed to pass in Sacramento last year,\u00a0vetoed by then-governor Jerry Brown<\/a>.<\/p>\n A breakthrough was reported from New Hampshire this month, as the state\u2019s Supreme Court ruled that a labor appeals board had erred in its judgment that workers\u2019 compensation insurance cannot reimburse an employee for the cost of medical marijuana.<\/p>\n As Insurance Journal reports<\/a>, the court found that under the state\u2019s 2013 medical marijuana law, a carrier is not barred from reimbursing. It further found that a qualified patient is entitled to cannabis under state law. The court did send the case back to the workers\u2019 compensation board for further consideration of the effect of federal law on the question.<\/p>\n The case concerned Andrew Panaggio, who registered in the medical marijuana program after he hurt his back on the job\u00a0in 2016. He sought reimbursement through workers\u2019 comp, but his carrier, CNA Insurance Co, turned down the claim on the ground that \u201cmedical marijuana is not reasonable\/necessary or causally related\u201d to his injury. Panaggio challenged the denial before the New Hampshire Department of Labor \u2014 where a case officer sided with CNA Insurance.<\/p>\n Panaggio then appealed to the Department\u2019s Workers\u2019 Compensation Board. Following a hearing, the board acknowledged Panaggio\u2019s testimony that \u201ccannabis is palliative and has the added benefit of reducing his need for opiates,\u201d unanimously finding that Panaggio\u2019s \u201cuse is reasonable and medically necessary.\u201d Despite this, however, a majority of the board upheld the CNA\u2019s refusal to reimburse Panaggio, because such reimbursement is \u201cnot legal under state or federal law.\u201d Following the high court decision, the state law argument, at least, is shot down.<\/p>\n While the case appears to be a win for worker\u2019s rights as they relate to cannabis, Panaggio also had to pay for his medical marijuana out of his own pocket, without help from his insurance company. If he lived in Canada, perhaps, this would not be the case.<\/p>\n In Canada, which launched its adult-use legal cannabis industry in October 2017, insurance coverage of medical marijuana is making big advances. Last year, Sun Life Financial of Toronto became the country\u2019s first major insurance carrier to offer coverage for cannabis. Sun Life chief executive Dean Connor said the move was prompted by rising demands from clients \u2014 especially those suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis, or those requiring palliative care.<\/p>\n \u201cMedical marijuana has become a very important part of their treatment program and pain management program,\u201d Connor\u00a0told Canada\u2019s Financial Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n And effective this year, the life insurance arm of Quebec\u2019s SSQ Insurance has started offering employers and other plan sponsors the option of covering medical cannabis, as\u00a0TheGrowthOp cannabis industry site notes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Even in Canada, it has been a long haul to this progress. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recently profiled the case of Melissa Ellsworth, who struggled against the bureaucracy for five years before the Workers\u2019 Compensation Board of Nova Scotia finally started paying for the cannabis she uses to treat chronic pain. She was finally approved in January 2018, after a tribunal found there was \u201csufficient evidence to conclude that the worker is entitled to medical aid in the form of medical marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n Ellsworth frankly\u00a0told CBC<\/a>\u00a0that the ruling saved her life.\u00a0\u201cI can function every day like a normal human being instead of being crippled up in pain,\u201d she said. \u201cI went from 26 pills a day to cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n It will certainly be a far bigger struggle to win this kind of progress in the more puritanical United States. But it starts with advocates pushing to include cannabis coverage as a basic plank of the progressive agenda.<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong>\u00a0do you think cannabis coverage should be included in health insurance?<\/p>\n The post Medicare for All Must Include Cannabis Coverage<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Three words have been circulating in the political sphere since the 2020 presidential campaign picked up speed: \u201cMedicare For All.\u201d The prevalence of the term, which many Democrats have endorsed as a solution to the United States\u2019 health coverage dilemma because it would create a universal health care system, exemplifiesContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,9114,1777,1992,119,139,9115,9116,5044],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33692"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33693,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33692\/revisions\/33693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}High Costs: Fatal Flaw in Medical Marijuana Programs<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Workers Comp Can Reimburse Employees for Medical Marijuana<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Canada Leads the Way on Cannabis & Health Insurance<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Medicare for All Must Include Cannabis Coverage<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"