Doctors and nurses attend to a patient during surgery in an operating room.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg
March 18, 2025, 2:25 PM UTC
* Administrator denied claim on medical necessity grounds
* Judge backs denial based on lack of individual information
A transgender woman who said her health plan from Cerba Research USA Inc. wrongly denied coverage for facial feminization surgery failed to convince a federal judge that the denial was improper.
Cerba’s health plan administrator, Cigna Life & Health Insurance Co., validly determined that the woman hadn’t presented evidence showing why the procedure was medically necessary in her case, Judge R. Gary Klausner said in an [order](https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/document/RachelCavallovCerbaResearchUSAIncHealthandWelfarePlanDocketNo224c) docketed Monday in the US District Court for the Central District of California.
Rachel Cavallo’s lawsuit challenges Cigna’s decision denying coverage for facial feminization surgery, which is a procedure that surgically modifies ...
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