UnitedHealthcare Must Face Proton Beam Therapy Coverage Suit

UnitedHealthcare Insurance Co. must face a proposed class action by health plan participants who say the insurer wrongly refuses to cover a cancer treatment they say is more effective—but more expensive—than traditional radiation, according to a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Three plan participants who each paid tens of thousands of dollars out-of-pocket for proton beam radiation therapy are moving forward with claims that United wrongly treated the procedure as “experimental” and “unproven” under the terms of their health plans. The participants adequately alleged that the treatment has been approved by the Food & ...