Private Insurance Need Not Pay for Injured Employee’s Medical Cannabis

In Feb. 2017, the Human Rights Commission ruled that a private medical plan committed disability discrimination by denying an injured employee coverage of medical cannabis legally authorized by his physician for chronic pain. But the Nova Scotia high court stepped in and reversed the ruling. The plan’s refusal to pay for medical cannabis wasn’t based on the employee’s disability but the fact that the treatment isn’t approved by Health Canada, which the Court said was a reasonable limitation for prescription drug benefits [Canadian Elevator Industry Welfare Trust Fund v Skinner, 2018 NSCA 31 (CanLII), April 12, 2018].