Cigna Ordered to Rethink Care for Teen With Depression, Anxiety

Cigna Health & Life Insurance Co. must reconsider its decision to deny coverage for a teenager’s months-long stay at a residential mental health treatment center as she was struggling with depression, anxiety, self-harming behaviors, and suicidal thoughts.

The insurer failed to adequately engage with the teenager’s medical records and denied coverage using conclusory statements, Judge David Barlow said in an opinion issued Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Utah. Cigna’s denial letter doesn’t reference insurance policy terms or respond to arguments made by the teenager’s family, and it doesn’t cite her medical records with any specificity, ...