Cost efficiency is a major concern for any healthcare provider, always searching for a more affordable, effective method of treatment. Medicaid has not been able to cash in the savings after reported having lost out on $1 billion in saving on prescriptions if cannabis were legalized.

A recent article by Forbes examined a recent Health Affairs study. Between 2007 and 2014, Medicare Part D enrollees were able to replace expensive prescription drugs with medical cannabis. The switch from pill to leaf was estimated at an average saving of $19.83 million per state per year.

“Total estimated Medicaid savings associated with these laws ranged from $260.8 million in 2007 to $475.8 million in 2014,” wrote lead authors Ashley C. Bradford and W. David Bradford. “The national savings for fee-for-service Medicaid would have been approximately $1.01 billion.”

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