IBM Sued Over Health Coverage for Developmental Disabilities

A new lawsuit accuses IBM Corp. of failing to properly cover treatments for developmental disabilities in its health plan by moving dependents with these disabilities to a “separate and unequal” plan that violates federal law, according to a complaint filed in the Southern District of New York.

The proposed class action was filed by an IBM employee whose six-year-old autistic son relies on neurodevelopmental therapies and Applied Behavioral Analysis. It claims IBM violates federal mental health parity law by imposing a $50,000 lifetime cap on these common treatments.

IBM also attempts to limit coverage of the treatments to “only claims ...