Cigna Expands Liposuction Coverage Under ERISA Class Settlement

Cigna Health & Life Insurance Co. expanded its coverage of specialized liposuction and will reprocess coverage requests from patients with lipedema whose claims were previously denied, according to a class settlement filed in the Northern District of California.

The settlement, which is expected to benefit up to 239 people, was reached after Cigna opted to change its policy on liposuction coverage in the wake of Banafsheh Akhlaghi’s lawsuit raising claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Cigna’s “post-litigation reversal,” in which it now finds that liposuction is a medically necessary treatment for lipedema if certain criteria are met, is ...