Posted on 10/29/2018 7:27:22 AM PDT by Fitzy_888
Public heath insurance programs would be required to cover medical marijuana in New York if a new Assembly bill is enacted.
Cost is the primary barrier to patient access in New Yorks medical marijuana program, reads a memo attached to the legislation. Medicaid, other public health plans, and commercial health insurance plans do not cover medical marijuana, forcing patients to pay out of pocket. Some patients begin treatment only to stop due to inability to pay, while others turn to the black market.
For thousands of patients, medical marijuana is a safer and more effective medication than other drugs, especially opioids.
The bill, filed on Monday by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and 17 cosponsors, would add medical cannabis coverage to four publicly funded health programsMedicaid, Child Health Plus, workers compensation and EPIC, as well as the largely publicly funded Essential Plan.
For Medicaid and Child Health Plus, there would presumably not be federal matching funds until the federal government changes its policies, but New Yorks Medicaid and Child Health Plus programs have always covered people and services for which we do not receive federal match, the Assembly memo says.
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States can legalize all they like, but that does not change the federal laws.
My wife had cancer and also neuropathy in her legs and hands, a side-effect of the treatments she was on. She was prescribed Gabapentin to relieve the pain from the neuropathy, but she had a bad reaction to it that caused her to be hospitalized and had to get off of it. Her palliative care doctor was one of the first doctors to get certified for the NYS medical marijuana program when it was first legalized and she wanted to give that a try seeing she couldn’t take Gabapentin anymore.
NYS really screwed up the implementation of the program and there was only one place where you could get it in Rochester, bordering on a bad neighborhood and you had to pay cash for it. She was prescribed the MMJ that was heavy in cannabinoids, which is a pain killer and she didn’t get high off of it as it had very little THC in it. It was only available in tincture (liquid) form and she had to out that under her tongue with the dropper and hold it there until it was absorbed. She said is tasted kind of nasty. It did work in relieving her pain, but the amount needed to be effective was costing us $400 a month and not covered by our prescription plan. Her palliative care doctor joked with us that it would be cheaper getting MJ off the street! She went back to using Oxycontin (for short term pain relief) and Methadone (for longer term pain relief) and that was covered 100% under our prescription plan.
The cancer finally took her on 6/6/2017 and she’s not suffering anymore and is with Jesus and her family in Heaven.
SOOOO—Taxpayers who don’t use MJ & don’t believe in drugs of any kind are going to be forced to PAY for MJ for others????
NY is circling the drain——right behind California.
Keep them stoned and you can get all the votes you want.
note New York and California
The chocolate is cheap
Like 20$ for a bar thats 10 doses
Much ado about nothing
Reefer Madness. Seriously.
I can only reply:
Help Stop the Homo,
Vote Against Cuomo!
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