Can a health insurer pay only outpatient services on a claim which included inpatient services? Who pays if they ask for records

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The second person I spoke with at the insurance company said I didn't need to appeal. Since a rejection is technically a denial, but they keep telling me on the phone it wasn't denied, and is either (depending on the person I'm speaking to) being re-submitted or waiting for the medical records, how do I appeal? They tell me it's not denied, but they won't say without costly records; and who should pay? How can surgical/progress notes after the fact help determine if they should cover what by all accounts was an urgently needed surgery, and how can they pay outpatient before and after the surgery, but not the surgery itself? Can they take back the payment if they say they made a mistake and meant to reject the whole thing? What about the fact that others have been reimbursed for this same surgery with this company in my state--is the refusal to reimburse some people and not others bad faith?