Hospital Didn’t Submit My Claim In Time, Now They’re Billing Me $40k—what Can I Do?

I was in a car accident on May 16th, 2023 in Austin, TX. Someone ran a red light, totaled my car, and I was transported straight to the hospital in pretty bad shape. A few days later, I found out the other driver was claiming I ran the red, so I retained a lawyer. After months of back and forth, the other driver’s insurance agreed to settle.

Now, here’s where the real nightmare starts. It turns out the hospital I went to never submitted my claim to my health insurance (Cigna) within their 90-day deadline. Because of that, Cigna denied the claim and said they’re no longer responsible for it.

Here’s the kicker—Cigna also told me that I shouldn’t be responsible for it either since this was entirely the hospital’s billing error. Their rep even mentioned that there are consumer protection laws to stop patients from being stuck in situations like this.

Fast forward to now: the hospital is billing me directly for over $40,000, and I have no idea what to do. My lawyers are meeting tomorrow to discuss next steps, but I’m trying to get ahead of this.

Does anyone know if I’m protected under Texas law? Can I push back on this, or do I need to file a dispute/complaint somewhere? If you’ve dealt with anything similar, I’d really appreciate any advice or insight.

Thanks for reading—I’m pretty stressed and just trying to figure out the right path forward here.