Possible Medicare Savings in States with Medical Marijuana

In a recent study in Health Affairs journal on how medical marijuana laws have reduced prescription medication use, it was estimated that if all states legalized medical marijuana, national savings for Medicare would have totaled $468.1 million for 2013. Based on this analysis, potential total savings in six states that are implementing or voting on medical marijuana programs, including Arkansas, Florida, Maryland, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, could total $88.6 Million. These six states would account for a 19% of the reduction in national Medicare spending. While these figures are based on Medicare spending in 2013, they illustrate the significant savings that states could expect to see if they adopted and implemented well-functioning medical marijuana programs.