Cigna Gets Nod for Settlement Expanding Liposuction Coverage

A class settlement requiring Cigna Health & Life Insurance Co. to expand its coverage of specialized liposuction and to reprocess coverage requests from patients with lipedema secured preliminary approval from a federal judge in California.

The settlement, which is expected to benefit up to 239 people, was reached after Cigna opted to change its policy on liposuction coverage in the wake of Banafsheh Akhlaghi’s lawsuit raising claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Cigna’s new policy, in which it now finds that liposuction is a medically necessary treatment for lipedema if certain criteria are met, is “built into the ...