Marijuana industry booms in Canada

Canadian insurers are wary of covering medical marijuana as they are concerned over potentially high costs and usage

Sun Life Financial, Canada’s No. 2 in surer, recently started covering medical marijuana in its Canadian health insurance plan – more than 17 years after the country first legalized it. The coverage, which requires employers to pay a premium, extends only to a handfulof conditions as a last resort.

„It’s not medical marijuana for any purpose,“ said Dave Jones, senior vice-president of group benefits at Sun Life. „It’s for specific conditions and symptoms where the evidenceis clear that medical cannabis has enough value to outweigh risks.“

Sun Life’s cautious approach reflects concern across Canada’s health insurance industry over the potentially high costs of covering medical marijuana and thin clinical evidence for its efficacy.

Canada, a pioneer in approving medical marijuana, legalized recreational use this summer. Canadian insurers’ reluctance to cover it suggests most patients here and elsewhere may continue to bear most of its cost despite pending legalization efforts worldwide.

Insurers’ hesitancestems in part from the experience of agencies in Canada and other countries that have offered coverage and seen costs and usage skyrocket. And many doctors who commonly prescribe pot don’t properly examine or follow their patients, said Cyd Courchesne, chief medical officer at Veterans Affairs Canada, which has covered medical cannabis since 2008. Cannabis research has been held back globally because most countries ban its use, making purchases for studies illegal or difficult. That’s changing in Canada, where a booming marijuana industry and the government now fi nance medical research, including efforts to create cannabis-based pharmaceutical-like drugs.

Canada law allows patients to buy medical cannabis with money from health-care spending accounts, which are financed by employers, but insurance companies make their own decisionson coverage.

Some insurers are starting to cover pot in response to rising demand from employees of the firms buying their coverage.

But insurers are treading carefully. Sun Life covers pain associated with cancer, multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis, HIV and palliative care for serious illnesses; chemotherapy-induced nausea; spasticity from MS; and anorexia due to HIV. Marijuana’s often higher costs make it that much more important for insurers to scrutinize the conditions they cover, said Mike Sullivan, chief executive officer of insurance analytics firm Cubic Health.

„If you open the door to conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder, short-term sleep disturbances … you start encompassing a lot more people,“ he said.

Text pochází z agentury Reuters  Zdroj LN

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V dnešním článku jsme narazili na ustálené spojení se slovesem make, a sice ve větě: „… insurance companies make their own decisions on coverage.“ („Pojišťovny činí/dělajísvá vlastní rozhodnutí ohledně krytí.“) Sloveso make obvykle používáme ve významuvyrobit, vytvořit. Zatímco sloveso do spíše ve významu vykonat, provést.V angličtině však existuje množstvíustálených spojení s těmito slovesy, jako vidíme v dnešní větě. Použití make a do je striktně dáno, a tudíž si tato spojení musíme zapamatovat. Záměna by zněla nepřirozeně.

Vyberte správné slovo a spojení přeložte:

It is important to make/do all the arrangements in time. The book made/did a huge impression on me. I promise to make/do my best.

NICHOLA SAMINATHER

SLOVÍČKA

be wary mít se na pozoru

premium pojistné

extend dotýkat se

handful hrstka

last resort krajní nouze

purpose účel

evidence důkaz

cannabis konopí, marihuana

outweigh převážit

cautious opatrný, obezřetný

thin zde chabý

efficacy účinnost

pioneer průkopník

reluctance neochota, nechuť

bear nést

pending dosud nevyřízený

hesitance nerozhodnost

stem pramenit, pocházet

skyrocket prudce stoupnout

pot tráva (marihuana)

tread postupovat obezřetně

palliative care paliativní péče

nausea nevolnost

spasticity křečovitost

scrutinize pečlivě prozkoumat

disorder porucha

encompass zahrnovat