Update: Cigna and Aetna TMS Class Actions

Two class actions pertaining to TMS, one with Cigna and the other with Aetna, have received class certification orders.

Weil v. Cigna Health et al. received preliminary approval of class action settlement and related relief by the United States District Court for the Central District of California on April 17, 2017.

Meidl v. Aetna et al. was certified as a class action by the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut on May 4, 2017.

Each named plaintiff alleges that their respective health insurance company has categorically refused to cover Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (“TMS”), a safe and effective treatment approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In 2008, the FDA cleared TMS for patients who have failed to respond to psychotropic medications. Unlike electroshock therapy, TMS is performed on an outpatient basis without sedation and does not typically result in side effects such as memory loss.

“These class certification orders are significant because without them, few, if any, patients would have the financial or emotional resources to pursue this type of misconduct individually,” said Psych-Appeal’s Meiram Bendat.

Psych-Appeal co-filed both the Aetna and Cigna TMS class actions.

Related coverage:

Aetna Facing Class Action Over Depression Treatment Coverage, Bloomberg Law, May 5, 2017

Cigna Ends Depression Treatment Lawsuit With $2.75M Payment, Bloomberg Law, March 22, 2017