Literally not true, in fact the exact opposite is an undebatable fact. Never had insurance and I can say that paying directly, in cash, for the entire thing, and saving them the paperwork of filing with the insurance will save you THOUSANDS a year. Yes, your appointment only costs $60 out of pocket with insurance instead of $120, but they also billed your insurance another $200 on top of what you paid. This, added on top of the monthly premium you pay for your insurance and it is WAY cheaper to just pay for it. The only time you insurance can be helpful is with major surgeries/procedures.

Even with the insurance portion, most insurance gets an "in network discount" that the insurance company negotiated. Every time I get a bill, I get the price of what the hospital/doctor would have billed if I didn't have insurance, a discount, the portion they payed and the portion I payed. It's usually a 10-20% discount, but when my wife was in the ER overnight it was close to 50% discount. If you don't give the discount, insurance counts them as out of network, and discourages their covered individuals to go to you by charging them higher copays. It's actually pretty standard with most insurance. Yes you don't pay the full cost, but the insurance doesn't either. They get a discount, and the provider gets patients steered their way as in network. ER/hospital visits are worst yet. They are literally 2-3x. I know a guy who got in an accident, had $30,000 in bills. He was fresh out of college, no insurance. His parents saw the billed and went to negotiate. For cash on the spot it was $10,000, since they knew they'd get paid instead of messing with collections, court and likely non-payment. His parents loaned him the cash. Hospitals, in particular, especially emergency services charge you additionally because they're not sure they're getting paid. So insurance also guarantees payment without as many headaches, so it lowers the price. Sometime you can negotiate in person and get their lower rate though.