Anthem Agrees to Class Status in Prosthetic Coverage Lawsuit

Anthem Inc. and a group of patients who say the insurer doesn’t properly cover certain prosthetic devices agreed that the patients’ lawsuit can move forward as a class action, the parties told a federal judge in Los Angeles.

Anthem consented Thursday to class status for the portion of the case involving computerized prosthetic devices for feet and ankles, which Anthem doesn’t cover on the grounds that they’re investigational and not medically necessary. The class includes between 38 and 44 people whose requests for microprocessor-controlled foot-ankle prostheses were denied, the patients say.

The patients say Anthem is wrong to treat these ...