A timely filing deadline is the number of days you get to send in a claim after a session. The clock starts on the date of service. Each payer picks its own window, and that window lives in your contract. Cigna gives in-network clinicians 90 days. Anthem does too. UnitedHealthcare won't even print a number; its 2026 provider guide points you back to your contract. Miss the window and the money is usually gone for good.
That is what makes this deadline different from every other one in your billing life. A claim denied for a coding slip can be fixed and sent again. A claim denied for late filing is dead when it lands. So this post does three things. It lists the real windows for the four biggest commercial payers. It checks whether New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut law protects you. And it covers what to do when a late-filing denial shows up anyway.
What is a timely filing deadline?
When you join a payer's network, you agree to its filing rules. The timely filing deadline is the cutoff. File inside the window and the claim gets processed. File one day late and the payer can deny it without ever looking at the care you gave.
Picture it. You see a client on March 3 under a 90-day contract. The claim has to reach the payer by early June. Fall behind on billing for one busy quarter and a whole month of sessions can age out at once.
Many clinicians learn the next part the hard way. Your contract almost always says you cannot bill the client for a claim denied as late. Billers call this a write-off. In plain words: you did the session, you wrote the note, and you eat the fee. The client owes nothing, which is fair. You get nothing, which is the sting.
How many days does each payer give you?
The short answer: anywhere from 90 days to 15 months, and two of the four big payers won't commit to a public number at all. Here are the windows, pulled from payer manuals and one confirmed contract amendment:
- Cigna: 90 days in-network, 180 days out-of-network (Cigna provider manual, accessed July 2026)
- Anthem: 90 days in-network, 15 months out-of-network (AAFP, August 2019; confirmed current on providers.anthem.com, July 2026)
- UnitedHealthcare / Optum: no published number; your contract sets the deadline (2026 UHC Administrative Guide, effective April 1, 2026)
- Aetna: no published number; billing guides commonly cite 90 to 120 days, but your contract controls (Aetna provider pages, accessed July 2026)
Cigna: 90 days, and the client is off the hook
Cigna's provider manual says in-network providers must file within 3 months, meaning 90 days, of the date of service. Out-of-network claims get 6 months. The same policy says a claim denied for late filing cannot be billed to the patient (Cigna, "When to File," accessed July 2026). One caveat: 90 and 180 days are Cigna's default standard. Some contracts stretch the window, so check yours.
Anthem: 90 days since 2019
Anthem shrank its window to 90 days for in-network providers on October 1, 2019, through a contract amendment sent to its whole network (AAFP Getting Paid, August 9, 2019). That rule still stands in Anthem's current timely filing policy, confirmed on providers.anthem.com in July 2026. Out-of-network providers get 15 months. Join the network and your window drops from 15 months to 3.
UnitedHealthcare and Optum: the deadline is your contract
The 2026 UnitedHealthcare Care Provider Administrative Guide, effective April 1, 2026, publishes no universal window at all. It says claims "should be filed timely, according to your agreement," and its quick-reference table sends you to your Participation Agreement (2026 UHC Administrative Guide, p. 128). So your real UHC deadline lives in a contract you may have signed years ago. Dig it out and read the filing clause. And if Optum calls about a "clinical review" while a claim sits in limbo, here is whether you have to engage.
Aetna: no public number, plus two extra clocks
Aetna publishes no universal filing window either. Billing guides commonly cite 90 to 120 days for commercial contracts, but no Aetna page confirms a number, so treat your agreement as the only truth. What Aetna does publish is the schedule after a claim decision. You get 180 calendar days to request a reconsideration, which is a second look at the claim. Then you get just 60 calendar days to appeal that answer (Aetna disputes and appeals overview, accessed July 2026). Two more clocks, and they start right when the first one stops.
Does New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut law protect you?
One state out of three. Plenty of billing advice claims all three states set a floor. Only one actually does, and that should shape how you run your billing.
New York: a real 120-day law
New York wrote the deadline into law. Under Insurance Law §3224-a(g), a claim must reach the insurer within 120 days of the date of service to be "valid and enforceable" (NY consolidated laws, accessed July 2026). In plain words: file inside 120 days or the insurer does not owe you the money. A late claim gets a second look only if you prove two things: an "unusual occurrence," meaning something big and outside your control, plus a track record of on-time filing. Even then, the insurer may cut the payment by up to 25%. And a claim filed 365 days or more after the session can be denied in full.
One caution. §3224-a covers plans that New York regulates. Self-funded employer plans, called ERISA plans, sit outside state insurance law. A client with one of those plans may still carry a shorter contract deadline.
New Jersey: the "180-day law" doesn't check out
Billing forums often say New Jersey has a 180-day filing law for health claims. The paper trail doesn't back that up. The full text of HCAPPA, the state's 2005 claims law, and the prompt-pay rules at N.J.A.C. 11:22-1.5 and 1.6 contain no filing floor for commercial health claims. The 180-day citations trace back to Medicaid managed-care plans and auto insurance rules, not commercial health coverage. New Jersey contracts do commonly use 180 days. But that number comes from the contract, and the contract controls.
Connecticut: the contract is the whole rule
Connecticut law tells insurers how fast they must pay a clean claim. It also gives providers one year to resubmit certain adjusted secondary claims (Connecticut General Statutes §38a-816(15)). It sets no minimum window for filing the first claim. So in Connecticut, the payer contract is the whole rule.
The tri-state map is lopsided. A New York clinician holds a real legal floor. A New Jersey or Connecticut clinician holds whatever the contract says. And the payers wrote those contracts.
What actually happens when you miss the window?
The claim comes back denied, marked as past the filing limit. The numbers around denials are grim. Providers spent about $19.7 billion in 2022 fighting claim delays and denials, roughly 15% of claims sent to private payers were denied at first, and 54.3% of denied claims were later overturned (AHA Market Scan, April 2, 2024). More than half of denials fall when providers push back.
Late-filing denials are the exception. Once the window closes, there is usually nothing left to argue. The payer never has to review the care at all.
The write-off rule kicks in first. Your contract likely bars billing the client, so the fee is simply gone. Second, a standard appeal usually fails, because there is no clinical question to win. The one strong card is proof you actually filed on time. That proof is the clearinghouse acceptance report, the time-stamped receipt from the service that carries your claims to the payer. If the report shows the claim went out inside the window, you can argue the payer mishandled it. Third, in New York you can try the unusual-occurrence path under §3224-a, with the 25% haircut risk that comes with it.
For denials that can be fought on the merits, like parity-based denials, the playbook is different. Start with what to document to win.
How to protect the window
Five habits cover almost every miss:
1. Pull your real deadlines. Open each participation agreement and find the timely filing clause. Write the number for each payer somewhere you can see it. For UnitedHealthcare and Aetna, the contract is the only place the number exists. 2. Bill weekly. A weekly billing habit turns a 90-day window into a non-issue. Claims that wait for "when I get to it" are the ones that die. 3. Save proof of every filing. Keep the clearinghouse acceptance report for each batch. It is the one piece of paper that can beat a timely-filing denial. 4. Calendar the second clocks. Aetna's 180-day reconsideration and 60-day appeal windows expire quietly. Put the dates on a calendar the day a decision arrives. 5. Chase rejections fast. A claim rejected for a typo, like a wrong member ID, may never count as filed. The clock kept running while it bounced. Fix it and resend the same week.
None of this is clinical work. All of it protects the pay for clinical work you already did.
The part worth saying out loud
Short windows are choices, and payers made them. Anthem moved its own network from 15 months to 90 days with one amendment. The same commercial payers that underpay therapists compared to medical providers in the same plan also run the shortest clocks and the vaguest manuals. None of that is your client's fault, and none of it is yours. It is the system working as designed. The defense is boring: know the number, bill weekly, keep receipts.
VibeCheck sits on the other side of the same squeeze. It's built by a clinician who bills these payers too, and it works the part of the week the system eats: notes and between-session care. If that lands, take a look at vibecheck.luxury, or book a call.
FAQ
How long do I have to file a claim with Cigna?
90 days from the date of service if you are in-network, and 180 days out-of-network, per Cigna's provider manual (accessed July 2026). Some contracts extend the window, so your own agreement is the final word.
Can I bill my client if a claim is denied for late filing?
Usually no. Cigna's provider contract bars billing the patient after a late-filing denial, and most participation agreements carry the same rule. The miss becomes a write-off. Check your own contract before assuming anything different.
Does New York's 120-day rule cover all my clients?
No. NY Insurance Law §3224-a covers plans that New York regulates. Self-funded employer plans, called ERISA plans, sit outside state insurance law, so those plans can hold you to a shorter contract deadline.
Can a timely filing denial be appealed?
Only in narrow cases. The strongest one is proof you filed on time, like a clearinghouse acceptance report. In New York, a late claim can get a second look if you prove an unusual occurrence plus a history of on-time filing, and the insurer may still cut payment by up to 25%.
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