The Cigna Group headquarters in Bloomfield, Connecticut, US, on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. The Cigna Group is scheduled to release earnings figures on November 2. Photographer: Joe Buglewicz/Bloomberg
A federal court has ruled that Cigna did not discriminate against a University of Maine employee who claimed the insurance company failed to cover obesity-treating drugs.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Feb. 19 upheld a lower court's dismissal in 2025 of the class-action complaint filed in 2024, in which plaintiff Jamie Whittemore alleged that Cigna denied coverage of her doctor's prescription for Zepbound to treat obesity — and thus violated the Affordable Care Act's anti-discrimination law. At the time, one of Whittemore's lawyers claimed the lawsuit was the first of its kind in the country, according to Maine Public Radio.
"Even if Whittemore plausibly alleged that obesity is a physical impairment, she failed to allege sufficient facts to support an inference that her obesity substantially limits her major life activities," three of the court's judges wrote.
"In her complaint, Whittemore alleged that her obesity 'substantially limits the major life activities of walking, standing, and sleeping' and that her ability to perform such activities 'is substantially limited when compared to most people in the general population.' Such allegations are conclusory, merely reciting the major life activities under the ADA without providing any factual support about how Whittemore's limitations in performing those activities present for her or how such limitations are substantial when compared to most people in the general population… Rather, these allegations merely outline obesity's potential impact on an individual's health."
Cigna is far from alone in facing class-action lawsuits claiming exclusion of coverage for GLP-1 weight loss drugs. As Bloomberg Law reported late last year, plaintiffs are "testing several legal strategies against how health insurance plans decide which drugs to cover and why. The cases target health insurance giants CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, CVS Caremark, the Cigna Group, and Elevance Health Inc., alleging they and their pharmacy benefit managers breached their fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by discriminating against people with obesity and illegally denying coverage for Eli Lilly & Co.'s Zepbound, the only drug approved for sleep apnea."
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