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.

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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!