That’s not news, of course. What’s news is that this company is offering to cover the cost of medical marijuana.

The company intends to cover all aspects of the medical marijuana industry, including everything from the actual medical insurance to insurance for the businesses that are involved in the process. They will offer workers compensation for companies involved in growing and dispensing medical marijuana. They will offer auto insurance that covers vehicles used to transport the medical marijuana. They will offer coverage for equipment, property loss and other expenses.

The company is going to offer these insurance products in all 50 states. At present, there are only 14 states that allow the use of medical marijuana. What this means is that, if and when medical marijuana becomes legal in a given state, the company will be ready to step in and provide coverage right away.

There is potentially big business to be had in the insurance covering medical marijuana dispensaries. When California made medical marijuana legal in 1996, dispensaries began to pop up. Today, there are somewhere around 2,000 in the state of California alone. This represents a huge market when extrapolated across the country.

In general, the tide seems to be turning when it comes to medical marijuana. More and more states make the drug legal for medical use. Meanwhile, the Obama administration announced last year that it would stop the arrests on federal charges of growers of marijuana who were operating within the limits of state laws.

Time will tell the whole tale, however. If and when medical marijuana becomes legal in all 50 states, there will likely be more and more debate about even covering the costs with traditional medical insurance.

However, there is one aspect of the health care dialogue that just seems to go unmissed, and it’s something worth thinking about. It’s the question of what’s really being proposed, and where the real problems lay.

The Healthcare Industry

The American healthcare industry – and by that we mean the doctors, hospitals, infrastructure and education system – are all in pretty good shape. We have some of the best medicine in the world, and it’s not uncommon for folks to come to the U.S. specifically for treatment.

It’s important to recognize this off the bad. Any “reform” that wants to change the industry itself may or may not be a good thing.

Medical Insurance

Here is where things get a little muddier, and where most folks see a need for improvement. The fact is that not everyone has medical insurance. Medical insurance can be expensive and not all employers offer access to a group plan to make things more affordable.

There’s another side to medical insurance, however, that is often missed, and that’s malpractice insurance. The rising costs of malpractice insurance cause the price of medical services to rise. There may not be an easy fix to this, as tort reform has its problems, too, but it needs to be part of the discussion.

Access to Healthcare

The biggest problem that’s usually identified by people is access to healthcare. They complain that a PPO won’t cover a specific ailment, or that the poor don’t have access to preventative health services. These things aren’t always true, however.

The fact is that medical services are available to the poor, often on a sliding scale. Add to the mix Medicaid, and you’re really looking at a very small number of people that may not have medical services, and most of those actually have access but may not know how to get it.

In addition, just because your insurance doesn’t pay for a procedure or test doesn’t mean you’re forbidden from having it. It just means you have to pay for it. It’s time to stop thinking of medical insurance as something that’s supposed to pay all of your bills and recognize that, sometimes, you need to be able to spend your money on what’s important.

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In many cases, you don’t even have a choice. Some colleges, for example, require you to carry medical insurance, or if you don’t they’ll actually add the cost of a university group medical insurance plan to your student bill. Truly, to even suggest for a moment that you don’t need medical insurance will seem ludicrous to some people.

Still, there are exceptions to every rule. Here are some reasons that you may not need to have medical insurance:

1. You’re filthy, stinking rich. If you can pay for any medical expense you have out of pocket, you probably don’t need insurance. Even if something catastrophic happens and you need tens of thousands of dollars worth of treatment, you can simply write a check to pay for it. Be careful here, though, because one prolonged bout with cancer could easily deplete a trust fund.
2. You’re already covered under your parents’ plan. Like it or not , many employer group medical insurance plans will cover you up to a certain age, and usually longer than standard if you’re in college. You don’t need to get medical insurance because you already have it.
3. You’re young and in good health. Now, don’t misunderstand me. Going without insurance is a gamble, no matter how young and healthy you are. However, In your early 20s you can probably skate by successfully with little long-term damage from not having insurance. Understand that, if you’re wrong, however, the risks can be huge and far-reaching.
4. You’re Canadian. Or European. The fact is that many other nations have socialized medical insurance systems. Of course, there are limits on what those systems will cover when you’re traveling abroad, so make sure you know before you count on it being there.
5. You don’t want to participate in the broken system, dude. It’s a free country. You can live by your own conscience. If you don’t want medical insurance, even if it’s the right thing for you, you don’t have to have it, plain and simple. Understand, though, that if you do get sick that you may wind up being a huge burden on the rest of society.

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Medicaid and SCHIP

The Medicaid program is funded by the federal government and administered by the states. The rules will vary from one state to the next, but for the most part if your family of four makes less than $44,500 a year, you’re considered eligible for the program.

Medicaid will cover a great deal of medical expenses for your kids. Typically, it will cover doctor visits, dentist visits, medication and even hospitalization. It provides health insurance, usually in a PPO-style program. You might be somewhat limited in your choice of doctors, as not all practices will take Medicaid.

To find out more about Medicaid for your kids, you can call the federal hotline at 1-877-KIDS-NOW (1-877-543-7669). Alternatively, you can contact your state’s Human Services department and talk to someone there.

State Programs

Various states also offer programs to help provide medical insurance for children whose parents make too much to qualify them for Medicaid, but who don’t have insurance through work or through another means. These programs can vary greatly, but you should also be able to get information on these from your state’s Human Services department.

In Michigan, to take one example, there is the “MIChild” program. This program provides medical insurance for children, but at  a cost. The cost of the program depends on the family’s income level. A child can be insured in this program, usually, for less than about $25 per month. This program, in contrast to Medicaid programs, uses more of an HMO style plan where you can take the insurance to any doctor. Of course, in-network doctors will have a smaller co-pay and deductible, but at least it gives you the options.

Other Options

You may be able to get help covering medical costs for your kids in other ways, too. Some areas have hospitals that provide discounted services or services on a sliding scale, based on your income. There are also free clinics in some areas, which may be an option if everything else fails.

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Unfortunately, there are some circumstances that can thwart this sort of traditional coverage. Here are some things to consider that may muddy the waters a bit:

• Your student is going to college out of state. Medical insurance, for the time being, is governed by state, rather than federal, law. This means that health insurance in one state may not cover your student very well if they’re living in another state. Chances are pretty good that if you have a PPO, for example, your student will have to pay for any medical expenses out of pocket and then be reimbursed for only a portion of those expenses by the insurance company.
• Your coverage lapses. One of the harsh realities of our day is that job security is a thing of the past. As we become a more fluid workforce, we’re that much more likely to have a gap between the time we’re covered by our employers. HIPPA regulations and the availability of COBRA have helped this situation a bit, but if you’ve got a kid in college you need to be keenly aware of when you (and she) are or are not covered.
• Understand the loopholes. In many cases, if a student has an accident or an illness that makes him have to drop out of school, even for a semester, the student won’t be considered “full time” and may lose coverage. Fortunately, a law known as “Michelle’s Law” now states that group insurance plans have to cover students who are on medical leave for up to a year. If your child’s illness goes beyond that, however, you might have a challenge.
• Know the options. If your student isn’t covered, you may be able to purchase an individual medical insurance policy for your student. Many schools have access to a group policy that you can buy into, as well. In fact, more than 50 percent of colleges offer some sort of plan, although the plans vary greatly from one to the next.

Photo via karpov the wrecked train

The biggest challenge, of course, is making sure that everyone has insurance without creating a monstrous government entity that will force people to do so. That’s a political mess right there, in case you haven’t been following the news, so I’ll just completely sidestep it for now.

One of the other challenges in this regard has to do with preexisting conditions. The fact is that many insurance plans don’t cover conditions that you already have when you start the insurance coverage. This can leave some people that have had a gap in employment in the lurch, as they struggle to get long-term chronic conditions taken care of without having to spend every dime of disposable income treating them.

The fact is that insurance companies don’t want to insure sick people. It’s just not good financial business. For this reason, all 50 states have an “insurer of last resort.” This is an insurance company that will offer you coverage even if everyone else turns you down.

In some states, these insurers have caps on what they’re allowed to charge, but this isn’t the case in every state. So, while the company is required to offer you insurance, based on your medical condition they can charge you significantly higher premiums than what you would pay if you were getting medical insurance coverage through your employer, for example. In some cases, an individual’s insurance plan could cost as much as $1,400 a month, and have a deductible of $5,000 or more, based on preexisting conditions.

The key is, if at all possible, to not let a gap occur in your medical insurance coverage. If you lose your job, pay for COBRA. Once you get another job, your new insurance plan will be required to cover your preexisting conditions under the HIPPA laws on the books. Even in these tough financial times, there is help from the federal government that will defray the cost of paying for COBRA while you’re looking for more work.

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And we’ll just sort of gloss over smoking as an addiction, too. After all, not all medical insurance companies have yet figured out that nicotine addiction is as severe, if not more severe, than most other substance additions and therefore won’t pay for treatments.

Can’t Get Off Line

One of the most common addictions that’s not substance related is Internet addiction. A relatively new phenomenon, Internet addiction affects folks across all demographic strata. The most common Internet addict profile is an intelligent male between the ages of 16 and 26.

Recognizing Internet addiction can be hard, largely because we all spend so much time online these days. The best way to determine whether someone is addicted to the Internet is to look at what’s missing. If they’re ignoring real-world interactions, failing in real-world responsibilities and all so they can spend time online, they may be addicted.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Many women (and some men, for that matter) joke about being a shopaholic. Yet, this is a real condition. It’s medical name is Oniomania. Oniomania is the compulsive desire to shop, and is often referred to by other names such as compulsive buying, shopping addiction, shopaholism, and compulsive shopping.

Here again, it can be hard to identify when someone has a shopping addiction. Just merely buying beyond your means doesn’t indicate an addiction, especially during this age when most college graduates already have credit card debt and when times are tough economically.

When a person is buying beyond their means, and when they’re buying things that they can’t or won’t ever use, it can be a sign of shopping addiction. When shopping affects other aspects of life, and when a person would rather go shopping than go to work or spend time with friends and family is another good indication that there’s a real problem.

Get Help

If you think you or someone you know may be addicted to the Internet or a shopaholic, it’s all right to seek treatment. Whether or not the insurance company will pay for treatment, you need to get on the right track so you can truly life your life in a happy and productive way.

Photo via Don Hankins

1. The Woman Who has 200 Orgasms every day
2. The Man Who Can’t Get Fat
3. The Man Who Doesn’t Feel Cold
4. The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep: stayed awake 24 hours a day for years
5. The Girl Who is Allergic to Water
6. The Woman Who Can’t Forget
7. The Girl Who Eats Only Tic Tacs
8. The Musician Who Can’t Stop Hiccupping
9. The Girl That Collapses Every Time She Laughs
10. The Woman Who is Allergic to Modern Technology

All right, so we’ll forget for a minute whether or not some of these stories are just plain ludicrous. We’ll accept the idea that each is a legitimate condition, most of which may not really be covered by most medical insurance plans.

Given that, the question is this: which of these ailments would you most like to have?

Well, let’s start with the obvious: orgasm girl. While it sounds good at first blush, do you really want to be so sexually charged that sliding out of your office chair at work gets you excited? The story says that the girl can’t seem to keep a boyfriend, either – because no man can keep her satisfied.

We’ll write off the obvious no-gos, such as water allergy, hiccups and collapsing when you laugh. (Although, talk about a good party trick, that last one might be worth considering.)

Skinny guy might be a good option. Of course, the downside is that, because of the way his body processes food, he pretty much needs to gorge himself just to keep a basic healthy weight. I guess there are worse problems.

Tic Tac girl – that’s just crazy stuff right there. We’ll stay away from that one, too.

As far as the allergy to technology, I think you could really turn that “disability” into a profit center. Just think how much corporations or even the CIA would pay for you to walk into a room and wait for you to sneeze in order to see if the room is bugged? If she’d been around 40 years ago, Watergate might never have happened.

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And so, riding the wave, folks like Jenny McCarthy and partner Jim Carrey get out there and found Generation Rescue to crusade against childhood vaccines. They’re given time on Larry King, with Diane Sawyer and even in People Magazine. The celebrity media that surrounds McCarthy celebrates her determination and her desire to see children be free of autism.

The problem is that this dramatic crusade is based on a complete lie. Dr. Andrew Wakefield is the British doctor who first linked autism and childhood vaccines. In fact, his research is the only research that suggests such a link. Wakefield’s findings have been called into question for a decade.

Now, Dr. Wakefield has been found guilty of medical misconduct. The review panel found him “dishonest,” “irresponsible” and that Wakefield acted “contrary to the clinical interests” of a child.

Critics of Wakefield have, for some time now, insisted that the results he claimed in his research have not been replicated, and that they cannot be. Many studies have tried to test the same conclusions, but to no avail.

In addition, Wakefield seems to have found a lucrative niche in linking autism with childhood vaccines. When celebrities like McCarthy support your research and your positions, money will flow. His autism treatment center has funneled a great deal of cash his way.

It’s hard to say what will happen to McCarthy’s show. Will the unmasking of the false prophet of autism make a difference to McCarthy, or to Oprah?  It’s likely that the show will go unhindered, as neither McCarthy nor Oprah seem to have the slightest inclination to change their positions based on something silly like the medical facts.

In the meantime, the true causes of autism remain a mystery, and parents all across the nation struggle with trying to create the kind of environment that their child needs in order to learn, grow and succeed.

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The Los Angeles Times reported that Anthem Blue Cross, California’s largest private insurer, is planning on raising premiums on its individual insured’s by 39% on March 1^st.  The estimated 800,000 customer’s also were informed that the premiums may be adjusted more frequently than the typical yearly increases.

This comes after the company reported earnings of $2.7 billion in the last quarter of 2009. They also reported an increase in revenues from $15.0 billion to $19 billion—a jump of 26%.

White House Reactions

Reaction was swift. Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, wrote a letter to the company asking for a detailed justification for the rate increases. She also asked the company to provide the percent of the individual market premiums that are being used for medical care versus administrative costs.

Sebelius suggested these “extraordinary increases” threaten to make health care unaffordable for hundreds of thousands of Californians. She also said she would be closely monitoring the situation.

President Obama has even used this information to support his contention that health care costs will rise if the legislature stalls on passing the type of healthcare reform he is seeking.

Anthem Blue Cross Response

The company acknowledged they received the Secretary’s letter and said they will reply promptly. They did say that in a weak economy, many people do not buy health insurance. This leaves fewer people in the insurance pool. They often have greater medical needs which impact everyone.

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