12:41 PM EDT, 04/01/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Cigna ( CI ) has been ordered to face claims by a group of patients in a class action lawsuit alleging underpayment of benefits in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, according to a ruling by a US district judge issued Saturday.

The order by District Judge Omar Williams for the District of Connecticut, however, dismissed claims by state medical associations against Cigna ( CI ) in the same lawsuit.

Williams said in his order that the patients were "rudely surprised" to learn that the Explanation of Benefits from the healthcare and insurance company "grossly misrepresented how the claims had been handled."

Cigna ( CI ) allegedly did not properly reimburse doctors in a network known as MultiPlan, as the doctors received "only a fraction of what they had charged" for their services to the patients, "leaving them to balance-bill the shortfall to the individual plaintiffs."

"These bills reached the tens of thousands of dollars," Williams said.

Cigna ( CI ) did not immediately reply to a request for comment by MT Newswires.

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