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Marijuana Initiatives Haven’t Convinced Insurers
Posted by CN Staff on November 19, 2012 at 09:37:41 PT
By Michelle Andrews
Source: Washington Post 
Washington, D.C.  -- With the passage of a ballot initiative this month, Massachusetts became the latest state to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, joining 17 others and the District.But for patients who use marijuana to alleviate chronic pain, nausea or to stimulate their appetite, among other uses, legalizing marijuana is only part of the battle. Health insurance rarely if ever covers its use; some patients spend hundreds of dollars a month or more on the drug. The situation may not change anytime soon, some experts say.
Along with heroin, LSD and some other drugs, marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act. That means the drug is considered to have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.In October, consumer advocates presented oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to remove marijuana from that list. Reclassification would make it easier to conduct research on therapeutic uses for marijuana, say advocates, and ultimately make the drug more accessible to patients.Last year, the Drug Enforcement Administration denied a request to reclassify the drug, following an evaluation by the Department of Health and Human Services.Proponents of medical marijuana argue that research shows marijuana to be effective or show promise in treating a variety of medical problems, from cancer pain and nausea to spasticity caused by multiple sclerosis. They point to the drug Marinol, which is approved to stimulate appetite in patients with AIDS and contains a synthetic version of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), one of the active ingredients in marijuana. But health insurers remained unconvinced.There are “legal issues in most states,” says Susan Pisano, a spokewoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group, since it’s a federal crime to use marijuana, even in states that permit it for medicinal purposes.In addition, she says, employers and health plans want to see stronger scientific evidence that marijuana is as safe and effective as other drugs to treat pain or nausea, for example, before they would cover it.In states that allow medical marijuana, laws vary widely. Some permit people to grow their own supply, others only permit marijuana to be distributed through a state-regulated dispensary. Patients generally must get a recommendation from a physician and then register with the state. States restrict the amount someone can possess for his or her own use, permitting a specified number of ounces or a supply that lasts up to 60 days, for example.A typical patient might purchase an eighth of an ounce — the equivalent of about three joints — from a dispensary at a cost of $20 to $60, says Kris Hermes, a spokesman for Americans for Safe Access. But patients’ needs vary widely.“Some people only need a few hits at a time to experience a therapeutic effect,” he says. “Others need to smoke several marijuana cigarettes a day or ingest it with food, which takes considerably more.”Neither Virginia nor Maryland has legalized medical marijuana. In Maryland, however, if someone who is charged with possession or use meets certain medical criteria, he or she won’t face criminal penalties.Meanwhile, even some patients in states that permit its use for medical purposes scramble to maintain their supply.Steph Sherer is one of them. The District passed a medical marijuana law in 2010 but hasn’t yet set up dispensaries to distribute the drug. (It selected six companies to cultivate the plants last spring.) Sherer, 36, is the executive director of Americans for Safe Access, which promotes access to marijuana for medical use. She has torticollis, a condition that causes the muscles in her neck to spasm constantly and, if untreated, twists her head down to her left shoulder. Ibuprofen helped reduce the pain and inflammation, but after less than two years at very high doses, her kidneys started to fail in 2001.At the time, Sherer was living in California, the first state to pass a medical marijuana law in 1996. Her doctor recommended she try marijuana to relieve her symptoms, and it worked. Sherer used a tincture of marijuana that she bought from a local dispensary and sprayed under her tongue several times a day. Her weekly cost: about $60.When she moved to the District in 2006 to work on federal laws related to marijuana, Sherer lost access to her dispensary.Until dispensaries are operating in the District, she will continue buying marijuana on the street and making her own tincture, at a cost of about $300 weekly.Why so expensive? For one thing, a dispensary can make it in bulk, which brings down the price, she says. For another, “I don’t always make it correctly, and sometimes the medicine isn’t strong enough.”This column is produced through a collaboration between The Post and Kaiser Health News. KHN, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health-care-policy organization that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.Source: Washington Post (DC)Author: Michelle AndrewsPublished: November 19, 2012Copyright: 2012 Washington Post CompanyContact: letters washpost.com Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ URL: http://drugsense.org/url/58Qpiv8hCannabisNews  Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #3 posted by MikeEEEEE on November 20, 2012 at 21:19:36 PT
$$$$$$$$$
Healthcare insurance corporation$ are ONLY interested in MONEY, not you!!!
If they can find a way to deny your claim or authorization, they will.The feds gave these corporate weasel$ a gift, by allowing managed care (TAKE THE WORD CARE OUT).
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Comment #2 posted by Had Enough on November 19, 2012 at 18:14:38 PT
Susan Pisano… Oh Suzie Q…!!!
Susan Pisano, a spokewoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group…Hhmmm…she must be paid really well…probably doesn’t sleep well at night …what a farce/scam that operation is…“”There are “legal issues in most states,” says Susan Pisano, a spokewoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group, since it’s a federal crime to use marijuana, even in states that permit it for medicinal purposes. 
In addition, she says, employers and health plans want to see stronger scientific evidence that marijuana is as safe and effective as other drugs to treat pain or nausea, for example, before they would cover it.””Since when did employers have a concern…or even a say-so in this…The only reason (with exception of a very few) they pay for the Pee-Testing is because they get a discount on that over priced Workers Compensation that is required by law…and sold by the insurance companies…And also…there is verbiage on some contracts out for bid that states…companies with Pee-Testing policies in place have priority over ones that do not…In other words don’t bother placing a bid if you don’t kowtow to Big Brother & C’s pee-testing campaign…So these are the only real concerns of the employersThe insurance companies stand to loose a substantial amount of coin as pot becomes re-legalized…and that is their only concern…Trusting the loving arms of the insurance companies is a false sense of security…************Something else kinda interesting…Suzie Q. Says that employers and ‘health plans’ want to see this that and the other…Hhmm…I have done research on mass quantities of so-called ‘heath plans’…I never met a live…walking…talking, ‘Health Plan’ that can negotiate without a human…so I would like to meet this one of a kind talking heath plan… :)Oh Suzie Q…Susan Pisano…!!!…please excuse me…I can’t buy your speal…
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on November 19, 2012 at 16:45:07 PT
Excellent PBS piece
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/ask-the-experts/ask-the-experts-legalizing-marijuana/15474/
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