Law360 Canada ( August 13, 2026, 10:02 AM EDT) -- Appeal by applicants from decision dismissing their application for judicial review of a decision of the Manitoba Health Appeal Board (Board) denying out-of-province health insurance coverage for lipedema reduction surgery in the United States. The applicants suffered from severe lipedema, experienced chronic pain, impaired mobility and significant functional limitations. Because no surgeon in Manitoba or elsewhere in Canada performed the surgery recommended by their physicians, the applicants sought insurance coverage for treatment at Stanford University Medical Center. Manitoba Health initially denied coverage, later approved coverage for an initial surgery, and after that surgery was successfully completed, denied coverage for further medically necessary surgeries on the basis that the procedure was an emerging treatment whose efficacy had not been established under s. 2(18)(b) of the Excluded Services Regulation. The applicants appealed to the Board. They relied on evidence from their treating physicians, Stanford medical professionals, CADTH reports, and evidence that the surgery was recognized and performed in other jurisdictions. Manitoba Health argued that the surgery was not the standard of care for lipedema and therefore constituted an emerging treatment excluded from coverage. The Board accepted Manitoba Health’s position and dismissed the appeal. The applicants sought judicial review, arguing that the Board applied the wrong legal test and failed to properly assess the evidence. The reviewing judge upheld the Board’s decision, and the applicants appealed....