A 37-year-old woman says she survived a heart attack, then Cigna called part of her care not medically necessary and her bill hit $110,000

A heart attack survivor in Ohio says her fight did not end when she left the hospital. Maria Simpson, a 37-year-old TikTok user who posts as @maresimpson, says Cigna denied part of her emergency care as not medically necessary, leaving her with a bill of $110,000 and counting, as reported by The Nerd Stash.

Simpson says she suffered a SCAD event, a tear in the wall of a coronary artery, while working out a few weeks before she posted the video. Her treatment reportedly included an emergency room admission, a trip to the cath lab, and other care over a two-day hospital stay. The hospital where she was treated has not been named.

Cigna has not publicly responded to the claims, and the account has not been independently verified. According to the denial letter, the insurer determined after reviewing the information that “the service is not medically necessary.” It is unclear exactly which part of her care the insurer flagged. In her caption, Simpson framed the decision as Cigna ruling that saving her life was not medically necessary.

Simpson says she will fight the denial as more bills keep coming in

The $110,000 figure may not be the final number, as Simpson says she expects more bills while she continues treatment for her heart. The Ohio woman has said she plans to fight Cigna’s decision, though it is unclear whether she has filed a formal appeal yet. A breakdown of the individual charges on her bill has not been made public.

Several replies came from people who said they work in or have dealt with medical billing. One commenter who claimed 13 years of billing experience suggested asking the hospital to make sure the claim was coded correctly, so it could be resubmitted with a diagnosis supporting medical necessity. Simpson replied that she “will definitely be fighting this.”

Others shared similar experiences with the same insurer, including one viewer who said they had breast cancer and had to fight Cigna on everything. However, not every reply focused on billing, as many commenters used the post to call for universal health care. Some also referenced Luigi Mangione, the man charged in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

SCAD is known to affect women more often than men, and it can strike younger people who do not have typical risk factors for heart disease. Simpson says her own event happened in the middle of a workout, with no warning beforehand. The emergency care that followed, including the cath lab procedure, is now the subject of a dispute with the insurer that is supposed to cover it.

Simpson’s post joins a wave of patient stories questioning how money shapes hospital care, a concern also raised in a lawsuit over a 21-year-old’s hospital death. In Simpson’s case, the dispute is over who pays for emergency care she says kept her alive, and the outcome could decide whether she carries a six-figure debt from her recovery.

Under federal rules for most health plans, patients can ask their insurer to reconsider a denied claim through an internal appeal, and if that fails, they can request an independent external review. However, the process can take weeks or months, and Simpson has not said how far along she is in challenging Cigna’s decision.

Cigna could still reverse the denial if a corrected claim or appeal goes through, and Simpson may share an update as the remaining bills from her care arrive.