: Should I pay the insurance discounted rate or the full rate for an ambulance ride under my deductible? I had to call recently an ambulance because of a food allergy. By the time I reached hospital, I was okay. Last month,

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Here's one source that says "negotiated rate."

An HDHP is not allowed to pay for anything except preventive care
until you have paid the deductible out of pocket. If the plan has
negotiated prices with providers (such as an HMO or PPO), you pay only
the negotiated price. However, many employer-provided HDHPs make a
contribution to your health savings account, so you do not need to
come up with the whole deductible out of pocket. (You can also
contribute more to the HSA on your own, up to the IRS limit.)

Source: www.bogleheads.org/wiki/High_deductible_health_plan

And here's a Reuter's article about how it can be difficult to get through the repricing system to get the negotiated rate even though you are supposed to get the negotiated rate. I particularly like "Consider any bill from a provider as the beginning of a negotiation rather than like a bill from a plumber or Visa."

Insurance companies put every claim through a repricing engine, where
they figure out the difference between what the provider charges and
the negotiated discount rate - and that is supposed to happen even if
you have not met your deductible.

Yet sometimes people get bills from doctors and pay them without
thinking about it.

"Consider any bill from a provider as the beginning of a negotiation
rather than like a bill from a plumber or Visa," advises Dudik.

And sometimes the repricing never happens. Pat Palmer, founder of
Medical Billing Advocates of America, says she has seen cases where
insurance companies did not bother to put bills through repricing,
since they were not paying them anyway.

"They take whole amount and apply it to deductible, and they neglect
to put on the explanation of benefits that there is a different amount
that you should be paying," Palmer says. "We have had some insurance
companies tell us that 'it costs us money to put a claim through
repricing, so we just process the claim.'"

That simply goes against Humana's policy, Smithson says. His advice to
customers for avoiding all billing problems: Stay in-network whenever
possible, because the insurer has a closer relationship with those
providers and can exert more control over billing practices.

Source: www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/26/us-usa-health-billingmistakes-idUSBRE9AP0U320131126

And another example of how someone has to take extra steps to get the negotiated rate.

People often roll their eyes at the mention of a
high-deductible health plan. “You pay ,000 before insurance covers
anything?” They don’t see the benefit of such a plan – especially
since I’m not likely to use anywhere near ,000 in medical services
in a typical year. Then I explain the benefits of insurance
negotiated pricing. I can walk into my doctor, present my card, and
arrange for my insurance to be billed. Yeah, I understand that
eventually the bill will come back to me (without my insurance paying
a dime), but the wonderful thing is that it is usually 40-60% cheaper
than when I first walked in. My insurance company can use their
pre-contracted rates to get me savings I might not have had on my own.
(Note: It is possible to ask your doctor to bill you at a negotiated
rate, but they don’t have to. By sending it through your insurance,
you are guaranteed their contracted rates, plus you get an additional
30-60 days to get your finances in order until the bill comes.)

Source: www.wisebread.com/why-i-heart-my-high-deductible-health-insurance-plan