No, pretty sure that's wrong. Also if you do pay on your ownand then it looks like you might be close to your deductible you should be able to submit your receipt to have it processed under your plan and have any allowed amounts applied to your deductible. Just check if your plan has a filing period for claims.
eta - just wanted to mention that the people you are talking to on the phone or who get your letters have pretty much no power - like they seriously can't really do anything (I speak from experience). So always ask for a manager if you need results. If the person on the phone starts to get annoying or sounds mad or whatever just ask for a manager - it will save you so much trouble.
Some doctor's offices and now pharmacies (specifically Rite-Aid in recent experience) are denying customers the ability to pay OOP.
We tried to get DH's Rxs filled there last week and just pay for them (he's on COBRA) and they said its a new policy that you have to have insurance or they won't fill it.
Bullshit.
That doesn't even make sense! Why would they pass on a fully-paying (OOP) individual to deal with a potentially-not-paying* insurance company?
*or at least massively underpaying
ETA - to the OP, sorry about all the issues you're dealing with. I, too, hate insurance companies with a passion (even though I admittedly have a pretty good one right now).
Just wait until ACA kicks in, it will eventually come down to who can afford to live.....it's definitely going to get a lot worse and unfortunately the media and the government aren't forthcoming with what the reprocussions of this are really going to be.
My parents were self employed, had BCBS for 23 years, and when my father got cancer BCBS dropped him because they said it was a pre-existing condition. It was service related so the VA System picked up coverage, but there was a very scary period when I was paying my dad's bills out of pocket because it was that or not treat cancer, and my parents couldn't afford it (self employed also means not working when critically ill). I sometimes think about doing sole practice but I would never. DH has back problems and needs good insurance. I'll be paying for my own insurance going forward ($1200/month for DH and me), but at least it will be under a group plan.
that's very scary and is so wrong of the insurance company to do that when obviously it was not pre-existing. We are both self employed as well and its a great joy. I make sure we got every thing covered to protect us. We will be getting a rider on our policy that will supply us with some additional income if something were to happen if we couldn't work for health reasons.