[NC]How to estimate price within reasonable error margin?

I m a grad student in the US with piss poor stipend. My BCBS-Blue option Gold Metal PPO coverage isn’t so bad with $400 deductible/$5500 OOP max. No copay, but 20% coinsurance for doctor visits and most services. 40% coinsurance in prescriptions.

I have been avoiding going to doctors because I always assumed it’d be too much money, but my friend who’s on similar insurance but in a different state told me that it won’t be the case even if I haven’t met deductible yet because there are discounts for members that use in-network services. My question is…how exactly do I know how much in-network discount I will get from my healthcare cost? No matter how much I try to even estimate a simple doctor visit, those drowsy receptionists never give me a straight answer and always either “tell me what CPT code you need and I can estimate”(how the hell do I know this?) or “I don’t know, we just bill insurance.” Ugh, the price transparency issue is such a pain in the ass especially when money is tight. I m nervous as hell because tomorrow I m going to novant health family medicine…