Marijuana Issues
Canadian Companies Add Cannabis Coverage to Health Insurance
By
Apr 8, 2017 - 12:31:04 PM

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - After injuring his back while working as an elevator mechanic, Wayne Skinner suffered from chronic back pain for more than six years. After he found relief through prescribed medical marijuana, he asked his union, through its trust fund, to cover the costs. Skinner fought for what he saw as his rightful coverage, but was turned down three times.

Skinner’s odyssey finally ended earlier this year when a human rights board in his home province of Nova Scotia determined that the fund should cover his costs. In January, the board ruled that denial of his request for coverage amounted to a prima faciecase of discrimination.

Skinner, 50, was elated. “Hopefully this will help other people in similar situations and eliminate the fight that myself and my family have had to endure, and the hardship that this has resulted in,” he told the CBC.

A number of medical marijuana advocates see the ruling as a bellwether. They believe it’s only a matter of time until broad-ranging coverage of medical cannabis becomes a normal part of every health insurance policy in Canada.

In fact, an enormously symbolic change occurred just last week. Loblaw Companies, which owns the supermarket chain Loblaws and the drug store chain Shoppers Drug Mart, announced that employee benefit plans would include coverage for medical marijuana. Loblaw Co. and its various subsidiaries employ nearly 200,000 Canadians. The announcement represents the largest corporate acceptance of medical cannabis in North America.

The announcement by Loblaws was a major policy change but it wasn’t completely surprising. Galen G. Weston, Loblaws president and executive chairman, said last year that he could envision his company’s retail outlets dispensing medical marijuana in the near future. “We’re an industry that is extremely effective at managing controlled substances,” Weston said after the company’s general meeting in May, 2016.

Canada’s publicly funded health care system provides individuals with preventative care and medical treatment from primary care physicians along with access to hospitals and important medical services. In some cases, coverage for prescription medication is available through public programs. But the vast majority of Canadians must pay for it out of pocket or through private health insurance. About two-thirds of Canadians have some form of private health insurance.