Aetna Faces Modest Class Over Liposuction Coverage for Lipedema

Aetna Life Insurance Co. must face class claims that it wrongly failed to cover liposuction procedures for patients with lipedema after a California federal judge certified the case as a class action covering between 23 and 25 people.

Judge William H. Orrick granted the patients’ class certification motion on Tuesday, saying that “although the class is small,” certification is appropriate given that the case seeks retrospective relief in the form of reprocessing previously denied claims.

A more “relaxed standard” governs certification of such a class, Orrick said. And “given the strain on our federal court system, the opportunity to avoid ...