Aetna Sees Second Spinal Surgery Lawsuit Secure Class Treatment

Aetna Life Insurance Co. must face another certified class of patients who say they were wrongly denied coverage for lumbar artificial disc replacement surgery on the grounds that it’s an experimental procedure.

Judge Cormac J. Carney on Tuesday certified a class of 43 patients whose surgery claims were denied between March 2019 and February 2023 and who are subject to the plaintiff-friendly “de novo” standard of judicial review. Aetna argued that its February 2023 decision to voluntarily provide greater coverage for this surgery warranted placing limits on the class, but Carney disagreed, saying that Aetna hasn’t reprocessed claims it previously ...