US insurer Aetna has agreed an out of court settlement with the thousands of dentists that brought a class action law suit against it in September 2001.
The dentists' had charged that Aetna illegally reduced and delayed payments to them.
The Hartford, Connecticut-based company will pay $4m to the nearly 150,000 dentists involved in the suit and will contribute $1m to an American Dental Association foundation.
Aetna also agreed to alter its business practices to speed claims payment and reduce administrative requirements for dentists. This mirrors the way it settled a similar suit with a group of physicians.
