<prompt> Human: Im a 23 year old college student who is financially independent big thanks to this sub and working 2 jobs to put myself through college full time so needless to say, money is tight.Ive only been with this doctor since January after going a few years without treatment and all I needed were perscriptions for ADHD meds, thats it! I was sent a bill to the tune of 135. No phone number or anything to even call and dispute it. I called my insurance Oscar and lucky me! My insurance covers physcatrist visits and I have 0 copay, but DOESNT 100 cover psychiatric procedures what the fuck!?. My doctor really didnt do anything but look at my medical records that I brought that contained 17 years of treatment for ADHD, made a photocopy, and wrote me a perscription. Can I dispute this? How do I even go about doing this? I was billed for a procedure without my knowledge...which might be justifiable if there was an actual procedure or if I was getting diagnosed for the first time, but that wasnt the case. Thanks in advance! EDIT: this blew up! It seems a piece of info is going over a few heads...I didnt expect to receive a bill personally. My insurance covers 100 of regular visits for my PCP and psychiatrist, but only 60 of procedures when it comes to visiting the psychiatrist, I guess. I have a 0 copay, and that is exactly why I am surprised to see the bill.For those of you who asked, the billing code is 90792.Also, I can pay the 135 no problem. But would any of you be willing to pay someone 135 if you didnt think you had to? Obviously if Im fucked, Ill pay it lol.Those of you who gave solid advice...thank you!  <response>: Psychiatrist here: 90792, which I believe is the CPT code in question, is absolutely the standard for an initial appt in psychiatry. This code is specific to psychiatry. I use it for over 90 of my new patient evaluations. And I get reimbursed by Medicare reference standard at a rate of 3.25RVUs another discussion. There is another set of CPT codes used by all physicians for initial evaluations: 9920X. Sometimes, if a patient has had a 90792 billed to their insurance co. within the last 1-3 years, I get notified that the insurance is unwilling to fully reimburse for another 90792. In that case, I usually charge a 99204 3.0 RVUs - so Im reimbursed only slightly less, assuming the exam consisted of the usual 30-45 minutes of interview time. For the rare quick initial eval, I use 99203. I get reimbursed for this appt at a rate of 2 RVUs. Usually, my 99203s take less than 30 interview time and its just a matter of renewing meds in a convincing case of adequately treated depression or ADHD or whatever. For me, Id use a 99203 for a patient who just moved to the area and is stable on a straightforward regimen, with an uncomplicated medical history, not on any other medications; has never been psychiatrically hospitalized, not had a lot of prior psychotropic trials, etc. That doesnt leave a lot of mandatory interview elements left to cover, and this can be done in less than 30 minutes. I do this because I think its just fairer to the patient, and reflective of the actual work that I did. Having said this, I dont have to do this. If I charged 90792, I could easily justify it to the insurance company. I just treat a lot of low socioeconomic folks. When patients tell me they are paying out of pocket, and they are in a financial bind, I use the 99203 code. In OPs case, this might reduce the overall bill from 350 to 250, and OPs portion would be reduced from 135 to 100. My advice to the OP is to find out whether hes not getting the full 100 coverage because a 90792 and not a 9920x code was used. As I said before, OP may have run into the unexpected 40 out-of-pocket obligation because a 90792 code was used, and perhaps there was a recent enough 90792 billed to his insurance. In that case, I think your psychiatrist would be willing to charge a 99204 instead, and perhaps even a 99203, if theres a strong case to be made that this was a very straightforward exam plausibly the case with previously diagnosed ADHD OR if the OP just tells the psychiatrist that this was causing undue financial burden which does not seem to be the case. But if OP does this, hell only be saving 35, and costing his psychiatrist 100 in the form of lower total reimbursement. TL;DR: CPT code his psychiatrist used 90792 was absolutely standard. Sometimes insurances would prefer a 9920x code be used instead, and this might be the problem. OP could ask his doctor to use a 99203 or 99204 instead, and might save this way.EDIT: typosgrammarclarity 