Aetna Sued Over Spinal Surgery After Other Insurers Settle

Aetna Life Insurance Co. systematically denies coverage for a safe and effective spinal surgery by wrongly treating it as experimental and investigational, a new proposed class action alleges.

The Aug. 7 lawsuit challenges how Aetna handles claims for lumbar artificial disc replacement surgery. Aetna-insured patients Brian Hendricks and Andrew Sagalongos say the insurer continues to treat the procedure as experimental, even though it’s been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for 15 years and is a “safe, effective, and often recommended procedure” that successfully treats the symptoms of lumbar disc disease.

Both UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Anthem Inc. recently ...