Medical Marijuana Coverage Creates Uncertainty For Comp Insurers

The six states where courts or legislatures have said insurers must reimburse for medical marijuana for injured workers have yet to provide guidance on how to do so, putting payers in the position of not being able to use the federal banking system to cover costs for a federally illegal substance.

‘Among the first questions I get are, ‘How? I have no idea how we’re going to pay for this,’’ said Julie Schum, Chicago-based partner at Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer P.A., who covered legal issues surrounding medical marijuana in a session Tuesday at Riskworld, the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc.’s annual conference in Atlanta.

‘There are some clever ways of making payments on this, but you have to be very careful because you also don’t want to look like you’re giving cash for the commission of a federal crime,’ Ms. Schum said.

She said that anecdotally she’s heard of insurers issuing prepaid cards to give to injured workers to cover their costs -- without explicitly saying medical marijuana. The proposed Safe Banking Act, which would clear red tape for reimbursement, has stalled in Washington, she said.