Big Pharma's.

That's outrageous. After all it's a weed and it's easy to grow. Insurers should cover it however but in the meantime if I were prescribed medical pot if possible I would try to grow my own. That would probably be a lot cheaper, even if you had to invest in some equipment that would allow you to grow it indoors.

that dynamic changed I have no doubt the cost would be very low

all we'd hear is their four favorite words: You are not covered.

You may need 8 Advils or Aleves every day to control pain from arthritis (and that may even be recommended by your physician), but they're not going to cover it. I think the issue is: it's just too hard to prove that someone needs an ongoing treatment for many types of unspecified pain (as opposed to say, a limited-term drug for after surgery or an injury). I can assume the insurers don't want to be paying for MJ for people claiming headaches.

Here in Illinois, which recently passed a medical marijuana bill, the list of qualifying diseases/conditions is quite limited and severe; no headaches or back pain allowed, unless you have, say, hydroencephaly or an amputated limb. Here are the only conditions allowable; most of them are damned serious:

Cancer, glaucoma, a positive status for HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), hepatitis C, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Crohn's disease, agitation of Alzheimer's disease, cachexia or wasting syndrome, muscular dystrophy, severe fibromyalgia or any spinal cord disease, including but not limited to: arachnoiditis, Tarlov cysts, hydromyelia, syringomyelia, Rheumatoid arthritis, fibrous dysplasia, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and post-concussion syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, Arnold-Chiari malformation and Syringomyelia.

Patients may also qualify for medical marijuana if they suffer from a severely debilitating or terminal medical condition such as Spinocerebellar Ataxia (SCA), Parkinson's, Tourette's, Myoclonus, Dystonia, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, RSD (Complex Regional Pain Syndromes Type I), Causalgia, CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndromes Type II), Neurofibromatosis, Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy, Sjogren's syndrome, Lupus, Interstitial Cystitis, Myasthenia Gravis, Hydrocephalus, nail-patella syndrome, residual limb pain, or the treatment of these conditions

prescribe the herb because it is illegal to do so.

for failing to cover. As "lost in cali" points out, they wouldn't need to cover it if the bureaucrats would lighten up.