UnitedHealth Settles Spinal Surgery Coverage Lawsuits

UnitedHealth Group Inc. will settle two class lawsuits claiming it wrongly limited coverage for spinal surgeries aimed at treating lower back pain.

The settlement was announced in court papers filed March 25. Terms of the deal aren’t yet public.

The cases accuse UnitedHealth of wrongly refusing to cover lumbar artificial disc replacement surgery on the grounds it was an “unproven” treatment for lower back pain. The surgery is approved by the Food and Drug Administration in certain instances and can cost about $60,000, according to court documents.

A federal judge in California in 2017 granted class status to about 20 ...