Recently, medical marijuana has been declared a legal drug in many states. This idea has not only upraised its use but has also promoted marijuana as a harmless and non-addictive drug. A study indicates that more than 22 million people used weed in 2015 with most of the users being males. Another study in 2016 suggested that nearly one in every ten 8th grader reportedly use weed and 6% of the 12th graders use weed daily. For these obvious reasons the National Institute of Drug Abuse has announced weed as the most commonly used illicit drug among the young generation.
The increasing use of marijuana has also been linked to various medical emergencies. Short term effects may include problems with learning, distorted sight, memory, loss of coordination, increased heart rate, etc. Long-term effects may include hallucinations, impaired memory, increased risks of bone fractures, acute chest illness, lungs infections, etc. This obviously requires an immediate need to minimize and even eradicate the use weed as much as possible. However, breaking the addiction and coming out of this cycle of dependency isn’t that easy. One requires professional guidance and medicinal support to deal with the situation. This is because overcoming weed dependence is difficult. Giving up on the drug can lead to certain problems like,
- Disturbed mood
- Unusual and severe food cravings or completely loss of appetite
- Unable to sleep or long hours of deep sleep
- Bodily distress
- Impatient behavior
There are certain medical treatments proposed to treat dependency of marijuana. But the point is they may be costly. Not everyone can afford the charges of rehabilitation centers and medicines. This may give rise to questions like do health insurance companies facilitate drug addiction treatments. Does insurance cover weed dependence? Do these companies bear expenditures for your rehab therapies? The answer to which is maybe YES maybe NO!
Under the guidelines of Affordable Care Act, most of the health insurance companies are ought to cover outpatient dependence recovery services. However, the exact weed coverage is variable among health insurance policies. Addiction coverage services include,
- Evaluation of dependency level
- Counseling of outpatients
- Medication for withdrawal symptoms
- Medicines for treating addiction
- Clinical visits and drug tests
- Health visits
- Counseling of family
Health insurance companies pay for the treatments recommended by authentic physicians. Thus, if a physician recommends treatment against weed or marijuana, the insurance company should pay for it by law. However, there are some companies that are unwilling to cover weed dependence because there is no authentic proof regarding FDA approval for marijuana as a legal medicinal herb. Also medical marijuana is still considered Schedule-I narcotics as per Drug Enforcement Administration. The health insurers consider dependence coverage technically illegal. According to the illegal acts exclusion of insurance policies health issues due to voluntary involvement are illegal to cover. Moreover, there is no exclusive medicine to treat addiction as well and insurance companies cover FDA-approved drugs by law.
Therefore, it all depends on the power of the insurance firm whether they can manage drugs like medical marijuana or not. If they consider covering weed dependence legal and can manage the expenditures they can provide it otherwise not. There is no set rule for it.
