Medical Marijuana Could Be Covered By Medicaid & Other Insurance Plans, State Sen. Cooney Reintroduces Bill

New York State Senator Jeremy Cooney reintroduced a marijuana-related bill that aims to put medical marijuana under insurance coverage.

The legislation, S8837 was first introduced in the previous legislative session by State Sen. Diane Savino (D) In June, NY's state Senate greenlighted a bill that would require public health insurance programs to cover medical marijuana expenses. The legislation would also allow private insurers to do the same.

“Some patients begin treatment only to stop due to inability to pay, while others turn to the black market,” Savino said at the time, reported silive.com.

After passing the Senate, the bill was sent to the Ways & Means Committee but did not make it out before the end of the 2021-2022 legislative session. Now, co-sponsor of the legislation, Sen. Cooney is taking another shot.

“Access to medical marijuana should not be limited to those who can pay out of pocket. This bill adds medical marijuana to four publicly funded health programs - Medicaid, Child Health Plus, workers compensation, and EPIC - and the heavily publicly funded Essential Plan,” the justification memo reads.

“For Medicaid and Child Health Plus, there would presumably not be federal matching funds until the federal government changes its policies, but New York's Medi- caid and Child Health Plus programs have always covered people and services for which we do not receive federal match."

Currently, there are at least 45 practitioners on Staten Island who are certifying practitioners for New York's medical marijuana program.

Photo: Benzinga edit with images by RODNAE Productions and Alesia Kozik via Pexels