I finally decided to get a new primary care physician (I had still been seeing my old doc, driving 45 minutes to another state for yearly physicals five years after I moved!).
My friend recommended his doctor so I called, confirmed the doc was taking new patients and confirmed the practice accepted my insurance. He is and they do. Cool beans.
I've had trouble with this insurance company before so I go online and check to make sure the doctor is listed as covered. He isn't so I call and talk to a rep. The rep tells me that the doctor is definitely not covered and if I go to him I will have to pay out of pocket.
I call the practice back and they assure me that they absolutely take my insurance and they have no idea why my insurance company would say otherwise. I call the insurance company back and I talk to another rep. This one tells me that this particular doctor is definitely NOT covered by their insurance and he gives me the names of two other doctors in the same practice that they do cover. When I ask why only certain doctors in the same practice are covered I am told that they insure individual doctors, not entire practices.
So...I call the doctors office for the third time and I am put on with the woman who does the insurance billing and she tells me that she has filed many claims with my company for this particular doctor and there has never been a problem.
So...I call the insurance company for the third time and ask for a supervisor. I explain the whole back and forth I have been doing and thank God I finally have someone who is willing to look into it. She puts me on hold and calls the practice. When she comes back on the line she apologizes, tells me she spoke with the woman in charge of the insurance contracts and they are contracted with this doctor so I will be covered by my insurance. She also tells me she will be talking to the website department about updating their online doctors list.
tldr: It takes three calls to my insurance company before I finally find someone who will admit that they actually do cover the new doctor I want to start seeing.