Insurance sent a letter that contradicts itself about denying my appeal. Best next steps?

Not sure if anything is in here that shouldn’t be. Please delete if so.

Age: 35
State: Texas

Hoping to get advice for best next steps for an accidental injury claim.

Insurance is Cigna

I was injured (shoulder) last year in March.

Had surgery in August

Physical Therapy until January

Filed the accidental injury claim in January

April I was partially paid out $500 of the ~$6,000 that I was expecting to receive (this has not been cashed).

Following up weekly I was eventually denied the rest of the payout in May. The reason they stated was they thought my shoulder was injured prior to the initial event that my claim was filed under (it wasn’t).

Appealed with documentation. Submitted my physical that was taken ~3 months prior to the injury that shows no record of injury as well as doctors notes of my first visit after the injury, stating when the injury occurred. Additional lab and MRI documents were also included. Waited 60 days. Called back and they said I should have a letter in the mail with the decision.

Got a letter saying they denied my appeal. Reason given was a section in the policy stating “sickness, disease, bodily or mental infirmity, bacterial or vial infection or medical or surgical treatment thereof, except for any bacterial infections resulting from an accidental external cut or would or accidental ingestion of contaminated food.”

However the Summary of Evidence at the end of the letter states “This does appear to meet the policy definition of Accidental injury of a sudden, unforeseeable, external event that results, directly and independently of all other causes, in a Covered Injury or Covered Loss. Conditions met: occurred while the Covered Person is insured under this Policy and it does not appear to have been contributed to by disease, Sickness, mental or bodily infirmity.”

So the stated reason makes zero sense in regard to my injury. In addition, the last paragraph completely contradicts the stated reason given. When I asked a rep about it, they looked through the notes and stated that “it appears to be, that they think the surgery was the reason for the injury to begin with”. This reason makes absolutely no sense to me.

I called the department of labor and left a message for a call back. Aside from that, do I have any other recourse?

TLDR: Submitted a claim that was partially paid. Eventually I was denied. Submitted appeal. Received appeal letter stating that I was still denied because of a specific section in the policy. The letter goes on to state my injury met the definition of accidental injury and that the new reason for denying my claim was not applicable. Best next steps?