Mar. 27—Workers' compensation carriers must reimburse injured employees for the cost of medical marijuana if a physician determines the drug is medically necessary, a state appellate court said.

In precedent-setting rulings, Commonwealth Court rejected insurance companies' claims that the state's Medical Marijuana Act and a federal law that classifies marijuana as an illegal controlled substance barred them from providing coverage.

The two rulings are a "huge win" for workers' compensation claimants statewide who are approved to use medical cannabis to treat work-related injuries, but have been forced to pay out of pocket for the treatment, said Scranton attorney Debi Domenick, who represents a Hunlock Creek man who challenged the payment denial.

Domenick, a Lackawanna County commissioner, has been fighting for years on behalf of her private law client, Edward Appel, who suffered a serious back injury in a work-related car crash in 2006.

Appel began using cannabis to treat pain shortly after Pennsylvania legalized the drug for medical use in 2016. A physician determined it was a necessary and reasonable treatment, but the insurance carrier for his employer, GWC Warranty Corp., refused to pay the cost, arguing the Medical Marijuana Act says insurers are not required to cover it. The company also argued that mandating coverage would cause it to violate the federal Controlled Substance Act.

The state workers' compensation board upheld the carrier's denial in Appel's case and a similar case filed on behalf of a Paul Sheetz, a now deceased Reading area man represented by Montgomery County attorney Jenifer Dana Kaufman. Domenick and Kaufman appealed the rulings to the Commonwealth Court.

The court recently overturned both decisions. In separate opinions, the judges acknowledged that the Medical Marijuana Act does not require insurers to pay for the drug, but there's no language in the act that specifically bars them from doing so. Because the Workers Compensation Act requires employers to pay for medically necessary treatment, they are obligated to cover the cost, the court said.

The judges also rejected the insurers' claims that paying for medical marijuana would cause them to violate the Controlled Substance Act, which bars anyone from prescribing an illegal controlled substance.

"Since (the) employer is not prescribing marijuana, but rather reimbursing claimant for his lawful use thereof, employer is not in violation of the Federal Drug Act," the court said in its ruling in Appel's case.

The rulings are significant because they mark the first time an appeals court has ruled on the issue, Domenick and Kaufman said. The insurance carriers can ask the state Supreme Court to hear an appeal, but it's not obligated to take the case.

Domenick said she believes workers' compensation carriers will immediately be required to pay for medical marijuana treatment. Appel and Sheetz's estate will also be able to seek reimbursement for the product they purchased in prior years.

Attempts to reach Mark Minicozzi, attorney for the insurance carrier in Appel's case, and Andrea L. Bennett, attorney for the defendant in the Sheetz case, were unsuccessful.

Contact the writer: tbesecker@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9137; @tmbeseckerTT on Twitter.