Who is responsible when a subcontractor doesn't have workman's comp insurance?

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If a subcontractor doesn't have workmans comp insurance and has employees who covers the employees if there is an injury, the main contractor or would the employee have to sue the employer? This happened to my husband. He blew his knee on the job and was sent to the doctor to have it xrayed. Three weeks and a brace later he was still waiting to have an MRI scheduled when he was finally told by the hospital that his employer had no work comp insurance and was refusing to pay for treatment. We had to find our own surgeon to get it operated on and it was bad. He ended up with a 10% disability on the knee. If further surgery is needed it will be a knee replacement. For over a year we had no income, lost our house, etc. We have an attorney but this is an odd case because the large contractor that the sub worked under is a major community contributor amd I think our attorney is afraid to go after them to. The hospital told us that since the contractor hired the subcontractor they would have to pick up the injury since the sub didn't have insurance. I have even asked the labor board for information and they wont give me a straight answer either. What do you think?