Payers could soon face pressure to reconsider medical marijuana coverage policies following HHS' recommendation in August that the Drug Enforcement Administration reschedule the drug to a substance accessible through a prescription under federal law.
"If I were the CEO of a health plan today, I would be all over this — it's a huge opportunity to differentiate yourself in the public eye," William Van Faasen, former chair and CEO of BCBS Massachusetts, told Employee Benefits News on Oct. 13.
Mr. Van Faasen is now a board member at EO Care, an employer solution aimed at integrating cannabis within health benefits.
"In many applications, medical marijuana is a cheaper, more effective and safer substitute for current drug therapies, like oxycodone or other potentially harmful drugs," Mr. Van Faasen told EBN. "Enlightened health plans will say we need to embrace where our [members] are."
He predicted that payers will likely be slow to add cannabis to formularies if it is rescheduled, and encouraged employers and insurers to begin considering how medical marijuana coverage and clinical policies would be designed.
"I've seen a lack of willingness of health plans to cover emerging and populous kinds of benefits," he told EBN. "We shouldn't stick our head in the sand and wait for a state legislative mandate or a Medicare decision."