Today in Federal District Court in Miami, Judge Federico Moreno gave

preliminary approval of a settlement between health care giant CIGNA and

some 700,000 physicians. Estimates of the overall value of the

settlement are between 500 and 700 Million Dollars. Archie Lamb,

Co-lead counsel for the physician plaintiffs said, "All the credit for

this outstanding settlement should go to the courageous medical

associations and individual physicians who put their names to these

lawsuits almost three years ago. The value of this settlement truly lies

in the positive impact it will have on doctors and their patients."

The CIGNA settlement, combined with an earlier settlement with Aetna are

expected to have a profound and positive impact on the quality of health

care for the insured covered under these plans. A final hearing for

approval of this settlement has been scheduled for December 18th in

Miami, Florida.