United Healthcare on Hook for $90,000 in Liposuction Procedures

A lipedema patient won her lawsuit seeking to force United Healthcare Insurance Co. to cover six liposuction procedures that cost her nearly $90,000, according to a ruling from a North Carolina federal judge.

United denied the patient’s coverage request using a set of records it knew was incomplete, Judge Terrence W. Boyle of the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina said. These omitted documents—which included detailed letters from medical providers, treatment history, and symptom documentation—were material to the patient’s claim, Boyle said in a Tuesday opinion overturning United’s coverage denial and ordering it to pay benefits. ...