Arizona’s junior U.S. senator has introduced bipartisan legislation that would protect insurance companies that sell policies to marijuana businesses. Marijuana is federally illegal, making businesses that sell it more risky to insure.
Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego and a Republican colleague from North Dakota want to pass the Claim Act and give insurance companies safe harbor.
Crest Insurance Vice President Mike McGee works with Arizona-based marijuana businesses. He said if the bill becomes law, “more and more carriers are going to be willing to offer coverage. And that breeds competition. And that in the end will start to make insurance premiums go down, not up.”
The Claim Act was first introduced in Congress in 2023.
McGee said it has a better chance to pass now that medical marijuana was recently reclassified as a less dangerous drug.
“I am running into fewer and fewer cannabis businesses that don’t have insurance. But they are definitely out there, and they do avoid it because of the cost,” McGee said.
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The Trump administration reclassified medical marijuana as a less dangerous drug in April. A weekslong hearing on whether to put recreational use in the same category starts Monday in Washington, D.C. -
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The name Trulieve is on more than 20 marijuana dispensaries in Arizona. -
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