Blue Cross Illinois Wilderness Therapy Suit Advances After Trim

A Boeing Co. employee advanced part of her lawsuit seeking more than $40,000 from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois for her son’s two-month stay at a Utah wilderness therapy facility.

Blue Cross validly declined the employee’s claim for coverage under a health plan provision excluding treatments received at wilderness programs, Judge Andrea R. Wood of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said Tuesday. She dismissed the employee’s claim for benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act based on her son’s treatment at Utah’s Wingate Wilderness Therapy for cannabis use disorder and neurodevelopmental issues. ...