Morning Briefing: Insurance industry will pay for marijuana say experts

By Steve Randall
Insurance industry will pay for marijuana say experts
Insurance companies will start to pay for the use of medicinal marijuana according to an industry expert. Following the Canadian Supreme Court’s recent ruling that users of the drug should be able to consume it in forms other than dry leaves, including gel capsules, there will be a greater acceptance by the insurance sector. Khurram Malik of Jacob Securities told Global News that “You’re going to see insurance companies slowly start to creep into the sector.” This will be driven by the more precise dosing enabled by the drug in capsule form. Some insurers are already paying for the drug when requested to by employers but the routine coverage is unlikely to happen until marijuana is given the rigorous testing required for it to be given an official drug identification number, or DIN.

Health insurance markets may be forced to combine
Some state-run health insurance markets in the US are struggling with costs and may be forced to combine with others or hand over operations to the federal exchange. The Mercury News reports that Hawaii is an example of an exchange that has failed to work and new sign-ups will be through healthcare.gov from next year. Peter Lee, head of California Covered, the state’s marketplace says that many of the exchanges are talking about joining forces and sustainability will be discussed by the annual meeting of marketplace directors at the end of July.

Chinese internet giant launches insurance cloud platform
The Chinese internet behemoth Alibaba has partnered with a leading software firm to launch what it says is the “world’s first internet insurance cloud platform.” eBaoCloud, a joint venture with eBaoTech, will allow insurers anywhere in the world to log in to a suite of cloud-based technologies which the firms say will enable them to swiftly launch new products and adjust them according to market response and to gather big data. Alibaba’s Min Xu commented: “In the past, it took three to six months for insurance companies to launch new products. After deploying the cloud platform, insurers can shorten the launch cycle to one to two weeks.”

Nigerian insurance industry holds first mega conference
The insurance sector in Nigeria is holding its first mega-conference from today (Jul 27.) as the industry seeks ways to develop its business and contribute more to the country’s economy. Nigeria has been impacted by reduced sales of its oil and the insurance sector is one which is ripe for growth to mitigate the decline in oil revenues. Three thousand stakeholders are expected to attend the conference.