Is there any way to get a medical bill reduced or completely wiped out? Got a surprise bill after I thought the Physical Therapist I was going to was In-Network.

I (25F) have been going to Physical Therapy (PT) since November of 2022. I had an HSA account with Cigna (I get my insurance through work and started a this job in June 2022. It is my first time being on my own insurance plan). I checked to make sure that the PT I wanted to go to (and was recommend to me by another friend PT for my specific issue) was in network with Cigna before I started going to her. When the enrollment period came around for employees to choose a new plan or switch to a different insurance plan for 2023, I decided that I would switch to a LocalPlus plan because it had some better benefits and would make my PT copay only $15 a visit. Since I knew I would be in Physical therapy for a while I was looking for a way to make it even cheaper for me out of pocket.

I have been paying the $15 copay since January so I assumed everything was fine. But now I am blindsided by a bill in the mail around the 3rd week of March 2023 for all of my PT visits since January and it totals to about $3,900 and some change! Had I known that the first appointment in January was costing me around $550 a visit I would have immediately stopped going there. But it wasn’t until 3 months later that the claims were processed and denied because apparently the PT is out of network!

After doing a lot of looking into my issue I figured out that the PT office is In-Network with Cigna for the HSA plan but NOT for the cigna LocalPlus Plan. I’m frustrated because had I known that they were going to be Out-of-Network on the LocalPlus Plan I would have stayed with the HSA that was In-Network. How was I supposed have access to this information? This being the first time on my own insurance I figured that since I was still with Cigna that they would still be In-Network. Also before switching to the LocalPlus plan I talked with my HR rep and at no point did they mention that I should call Cigna to double check that my PT would still be in network under the new plan. I understand that this is kinda my fault for not asking the right questions but insurance companies do not make it easy to understand all of their rules.

Anyways for more context as to why this is a big deal for me, I work for a non-profit organization and make less than $30,000 a year in Missouri. I am very frugal but after my other essential expenses it is still hard to save enough money. An almost $4,000 medical bill is going to be very hard for me to pay off especially since I have student loans that I am trying to pay those off too. I do have a $2,000 emergency fund that has taken me a long time to save up for but it still doesn’t cover the cost of the entire bill.

So I am wondering if there is anyone who knows of a way to get this bill reduced or completely wiped away. If anyone has any advice, resources or knows if getting a bill reduced is even possible that would be of great help!