Aetna Settles Lumbar Disc Replacement Class Action

After nearly six years in court, spine surgeons and their patients may finally see a long-overdue shift in payer attitudes toward lumbar artificial disc replacement (L-ADR).

Aetna Life Insurance Company has entered into a proposed settlement in the consolidated class action that challenged its long-standing practice of denying coverage for single-level L-ADR as “experimental and investigational.” The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, is titled Brian Hendricks et al. v. Aetna Life Insurance Company (Case No. 2:2019-cv-06840).