NY to mandate MJ cover

In 2014 Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that made medical marijuana legal in New York. Eight years later the state saw its first recreational ‘dispensary’ open on Broadway in Noho.

And now? Now insurers may have to pay for it.

New York legislators have passed a bill that would mandate public health insurance providers in the state to cover medical marijuana as a prescription drug and allow private insurers to do the same if they wish.

The Assembly Health Committee approved the legislation, spearheaded by Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D), in an 18-7 vote on Tuesday. The bill will now move to the Ways & Means Committee before potentially progressing to the floor.

This legislation would revise state law to categorize cannabis as a "prescription drug," "covered drug," or "health care service" for insurance purposes. Public insurance entities would be required to cover medical marijuana, regardless of any federal financial involvement in their services.

State Medicaid, Child Health Plus, workers' compensation, and EPIC programs would need to treat cannabis obtained from certified dispensaries in the same way as other conventional pharmaceuticals in terms of coverage.

While private health insurers would not be obligated to cover medical marijuana, the bill makes it clear that they may do so if they decide to.

Additionally, the bill text states that the commissioner of the state Department of Health would be authorized to "certify a dispensing site... as a medical assistance provider, exclusively for the purpose of dispensing medical marijuana."

A corresponding Senate bill from Sen. Jeremy Cooney (D) has been directed to the Health Committee of that chamber, although no action has been scheduled yet.

Previously, the Senate approved an earlier iteration of the legislation, but it failed to progress through the Assembly before the session concluded. In a prior session, a comparable proposal was introduced in the Assembly, but it did not advance beyond the committee stage.

There are now 66 marijuana dispensaries licensed in the state, two of them are in Manhattan.

Where is marijuana legal in the US?