I’m attempting to enroll in an Intensive Outpatient Program to get help with alcohol abuse. I looked into all the options in my area and decided on a program run by a local hospital. I was initially optimistic because I knew this hospital accepts my insurance (Cigna), but to my dismay I was informed that this specific service does not. I asked about the possibility of a single-case agreement, to which the billing administrator apologetically informed me that they used to work with Cigna on single-case agreements, but there were too many cases of Cigna essentially backing out of the agreement later on and not providing the agreed upon payment.

I’m at a loss for what to do because the self-pay cost would be close to $2500, which I can’t afford, and there aren’t any other in-network programs that Cigna will cover. Does anyone have experience with this kind of situation? It sounds like if I can get the IOP billing on board, that Cigna would cooperate with a single-case agreement, it’s just a matter of holding them accountable to following through.