Article: More States Should Require Insurers to Pay for Medical Cannabis

By Paul Armentano, Guest Columnist

Should health insurance programs reimburse patients for their use of medical cannabis products? In a growing number of states, the courts are saying “yes.”

In the most recent example, a Pennsylvania Appellate Court ruled that workers’ compensation plans must cover cannabis-related expenditures when an employee uses it to recover from a workplace-related injury. The court ruled that employees in Pennsylvania possess “a statutory right” to be reimbursed for medical marijuana expenses that are reasonable and necessary to treat a work injury.

“The MMA (Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act) specifically mandates that no medical marijuana patients be denied any rights for (the) lawful use of medical marijuana,” the Court said.

The Pennsylvania Court is not the first to issue an affirmative verdict in this matter. Courts in several states, including Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York, have provided similar opinions – determining that the denial of compensation claims would be antithetical to the legislatures’ express findings that cannabis is a state-legal therapy.

By contrast, courts in some other states, including Minnesota, have issued contradictory opinions – finding that it would be inappropriate for insurers to reimburse claimants for their use of a federally illegal substance. Federal law still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance, placing it in the same legal category as heroin.

Read more at

https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2023/4/4/more-states-should-require-insurers-to-pay-for-medical-cannabis

Cannvalate is a group of medical doctors and leaders in the medical cannabis industry. Based in Melbourne, we love to help patients to access products...

 Medical Cannabis / Featured

Certified organic CBD oil, multivitamins, vegan skin care and premium supplements for beauty and wellbeing. for the Ageless is a UK store specialising in CBD...

 CBD / Featured

Phoenix Cannabis Seeds was founded by several cannabis aficionados whose goal it was to source high quality inbred, hybrid and landrace cannabis strains and bring...

 Seed / Featured

Authorized Retailers and Dealers for over 200 Brands with over 5,500 Marijuana Strains Cannabis Seeds Outlet UK is becoming one of the best seed banks...

 Seed / Featured

Page 1 of 4