Medical Marijuana States Save Companies Thousands on Health Insurance

If you own a company or work for one in any of the 38 states (and Washington, D.C.) where medical marijuana is legal, you could save thousands of dollars. A new study by Leafwell examined U.S. companies from 2003 to 2022 and found that:

Compared to states that prohibit medical marijuana, companies in medical marijuana states have a 3.4% lower cost for individual health insurance plans. The report indicates this translates to an annual savings of $238 per employee. For employee-plus-one insurance plans, the premium costs are reduced by 2.9% per year, which amounts to $348.

The study states that a company in a medical marijuana state with 50 employees could spend $14,650 less. Clearly, as the company grows, this savings figure could skyrocket. Leafwell's senior research director, Mitchell Doucette, stated in an email: “In states where medical marijuana is allowed, if a business employs 500 workers and all employees have individual health insurance plans, the healthcare costs for that company could be reduced by $119,000 compared to similar companies in states without such laws.”

“Whether for chronic pain or cancer, we believe that ensuring access to medical services through insurance can significantly impact employee health and productivity,” Doucette added. “Investing in cannabis care not only benefits patient care but also enhances business efficiency.”

Based in Miami, Leafwell is a telemedicine company for medical marijuana that helps clients obtain the medical marijuana use cards they need. Leafwell's research, titled “Measuring the Impact of Medical Marijuana Law Adoption on Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Costs: A Difference-in-Differences Analysis,” was published this month in the journal Applied Health Economics and Health Policy.