If all 50 states legalized medical marijuana, \u201cemployers and employees could collectively save billions on healthcare coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Leafwell<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Taking into account both single-employee and plus-one plans, as well as savings to both companies and their workers, Leafwell said nationwide medical marijuana legalization could ultimately save $29 billion in healthcare costs annually\u2014$22.9 billion among employers and $6.5 billion among workers themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder a hypothetical scenario where all 50 states adopted medical cannabis in 2022,\u201d wrote the four-author Leafwell team, \u201cwe estimated that employers and employees could collectively save billions on healthcare coverage, potentially reducing healthcare expenditure\u2019s contribution to GDP by 0.65% in 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company said the research also \u201csupports positive social changes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy looking at how cannabis laws affect healthcare costs, we can create policies that focus on improving public health and health equity,\u201d a company press release<\/a> said.<\/p>\n \u201cAdoption of a medical cannabis law may contribute to decreases in healthcare costs,\u201d the report<\/a>\u00a0concludes. \u201cThis phenomenon is likely a secondary effect and suggests positive externalities outside of medical cannabis patients.\u201d<\/p>\n Leafwell<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A year ago, a separate report in the International Journal of Drug Policy detailed similar findings: While reductions in health insurance premiums were modest immediately following legalization, the study found that by seven years after implementation, annual premiums had fallen by $1,663 compared to states in the control group. Similar reductions were seen after eight years ($1,542) and nine years ($1,626), indicating that the decline in costs was fairly stable over time.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough the effect does not begin until seven years post-medical cannabis law implementation,\u201d the authors of that study concluded, \u201cthere is a significant and sizable reduction in health insurance premiums\u201d in states that legalize medical marijuana<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cDue to the nature of insurance pooling and community rating,\u201d they added, \u201cthese savings are appreciated by cannabis users and non-users alike.\u201d<\/p>\n And as that study\u2019s authors pointed out, the findings undermine concerns that legalization would risk increasing healthcare costs. \u201cInitial concerns about medical cannabis legalization leading to increases in medical care costs, which would be reflected in higher insurance premiums, appear to be unfounded,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n The research adds to a growing body of research identifying the potential public health benefits associated with ending prohibition. A number of studies, for example, have found that states with medical marijuana have significantly lower rates of prescribed opioids<\/a>. Last year, a report found that adult-use legalization was similarly associated with \u201creductions in opioid demand.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n A study this month reinforced those findings, noting reduced use of opioids and other medications among people with arthritis<\/a> and other rheumatic conditions.<\/p>\n A separate study last year determined that states with legal medical marijuana had lower opioid payments to doctors<\/a>\u2014another indication patients are using cannabis as an alternative to prescription drugs.<\/p>\n On the individual level, a recent study in the International Journal of Drug Policy found that\u00a0cannabis significantly reduced opioid cravings for people using opioids without a prescription<\/a>, suggesting\u00a0that expanding access to legal cannabis could provide more people with a safer substitute.<\/p>\n A study published last January by the American Medical Association (AMA), meanwhile, found that roughly one-in-three chronic pain patients report using cannabis<\/a>\u00a0as a treatment option, and most of that group has used cannabis as a substitute for other pain medications, including opioids.<\/p>\n A separate AMA study found an association between state-level medical cannabis legalization and\u00a0significant decreases in opioid prescriptions and use<\/a>\u00a0among certain cancer patients.<\/p>\n A study published last September found that giving people legal access to medical cannabis can help patients reduce or stop use of opioid painkillers<\/a>\u00a0without compromising their quality of life.<\/p>\n The same month, another study found that the\u00a0pharmaceutical industry takes a serious economic hit after states legalize marijuana<\/a>\u2014with an average market loss of nearly $10 billion for drugmakers per each legalization event.<\/p>\n Medical Marijuana Leads To \u2018Improvements In Physical, Social, Emotional And Pain-Related\u2019 Quality Of Life, Study Shows<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Nationwide Legalization Of Medical Marijuana Could Save $29 Billion In Annual Health Insurance Costs, Study Finds<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
New research by the medical cannabis company Leafwell suggests that state-level medical marijuana legalization may significantly reduce health insurance costs. In states with legal medical cannabis, companies paid 3.4 percent less for health insurance premiums compared to where marijuana remained illegal\u2014a savings of about $238 per employee per year. IfContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,15462],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77827"}],"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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77828,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77827\/revisions\/77828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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\nRead More: Nationwide Legalization Of Medical Marijuana Could Save Billion In Annual Health Insurance Costs, Study Finds<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"