A U.S. judge gave preliminary approval Thursday to a proposed settlement between Cigna Corp. and some 700,000 doctors who accused the health insurer in a class-action lawsuit of shortchanging them on payments.
Under the settlement, Cigna would pay at least $85 million in cash to resolve outstanding claims and spend $400 million to revise its business practices.
Lawyers for both sides said those revisions would require Cigna to publish clear rate schedules that could not be changed more than once year and would allow doctors, not clerks, to decide what treatment is medically necessary.
"I would say the value of the settlement is north of $500 million, well north," said Harley Tropin, a lawyer for the doctors.
U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno set a hearing for Dec. 18 to consider final approval of the settlement.