Advice about physical therapy not being covered?

Hi! I’m looking for some advice regarding billing.

I began going to PT for TMJ and jaw/neck related pain in January 2022. I was referred to the only TMJ physical therapist in my area by my ENT doctor. None of these visits were covered by my insurance (Empire Plan under NYSHIP) because apparently my plan covers PT only if it directly follows surgery or a hospital stay for the same condition (reason code is NYP). The physical therapist works for a hospital that is in my plan. My EOB even says “going to this hospital uses in-network benefits”. To make matters worse, billing was backed up, and I didn’t know I was paying $172 for 30-minute weekly visits until I had been going for 3 months already.

I understand that it’s my fault for not double checking with everything. But I’m wondering if there’s a way the insurance company can reconsider? My physical therapist mentioned that sometimes the codes make a big difference with this kind of thing — if the doctor put a different (but essentially equivalent) reason code, then it could be covered.

I am also confused because I had to get these visits pre-approved by MPN (Managed Physical Network, don’t even know what this is). In the letter they sent stating they approved a certain number of visits, it says “Coverage for the requested service(s) has been approved.”

Is it worth submitting some kind of claim or calling my insurance company about this? Or should I just pay the $1000+ for a lesson learned?