Your rights
You have a right to know what care will cost before you agree to it.
Federal law gives you the right to a written, good-faith estimate of what counseling will cost if you are uninsured or choosing not to use insurance. This page explains that right in plain language and how this practice honors it.
The short version
- If you are not using insurance, you get a written cost estimate before your first session — you do not have to ask for it.
- Fees are discussed openly in the free consultation, before anything is scheduled and before you commit to anything.
- If a final bill comes in at least $400 above the estimate, federal law gives you a process to dispute it.
The official notice
The following is the standard notice that health care providers are required to make available. It is reproduced here as written so that nothing is softened or paraphrased.
You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical care will cost.
Under the law, health care providers need to give patients who don’t have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the bill for medical items and services.
You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency items or services. This includes related costs like medical tests, prescription drugs, equipment, and hospital fees.
Make sure your health care provider gives you a Good Faith Estimate in writing at least 1 business day before your medical service or item. You can also ask your health care provider, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule an item or service.
If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill.
Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate.
For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises or call 1-800-985-3059.
Who this applies to
This right belongs to you if you are uninsured, or if you have insurance but are choosing not to use it for counseling — which some people do deliberately, because a self-pay arrangement keeps a diagnosis out of an insurance record and keeps decisions about length of care between you and your counselor rather than a utilization reviewer.
If you are planning to use insurance benefits, this particular notice is not the one that applies to you. In that case, ask about network status and coverage during the consultation, and your insurer’s explanation of benefits becomes the document that governs what you owe.
When you get yours
You do not have to ask. If you are self-pay, a written Good Faith Estimate is provided before your first session, alongside the intake paperwork. The federal timing rules are these:
- If your appointment is scheduled at least three business days in advance, the estimate is provided within one business day of scheduling.
- If it is scheduled at least ten business days in advance, the estimate is provided within three business days of scheduling.
- If you request an estimate without scheduling anything, it is provided within three business days of your request.
If the plan of care changes in a way that changes the expected cost, you receive an updated estimate rather than a surprise later.
What it will contain
Your estimate is specific to you, not a generic price list. It includes:
- Your name and date of birth, and the service being estimated.
- The fee for an intake session and the fee for an ongoing individual session.
- The expected frequency and number of sessions over the estimate period, so the figure is a realistic total rather than a single-session price.
- A plain-language description of the service, with the relevant service and diagnosis codes.
- The provider’s name, license, and tax identification details.
- A statement that the estimate is not a contract and does not require you to proceed.
Fees are not published on this website — not to be evasive, but because the honest figure depends on whether you are doing short-term skills work or longer trauma-focused care, and how often you meet. The number is given to you directly in the free consultation, before anything is scheduled, and then in writing in your estimate. [ADD FEE RANGE HERE IF YOU WANT IT PUBLIC]
Why it is an estimate and not a quote
Counseling is not a fixed-length procedure. An estimate assumes a course of care that looks like what you and Dennis discussed — a certain number of sessions at a certain interval. If you decide after four sessions that you have what you needed, you pay for four sessions. If the work turns out to need more time, that gets discussed out loud and your estimate gets updated.
An estimate is not a bill, not a contract, and not a commitment to attend a set number of appointments. Choosing to receive care is always separate from receiving the estimate.
If a bill comes in higher than the estimate
You have a federal dispute process available, and using it is not something you need permission for.
- It applies when a final bill is $400 or more above the good faith estimate for that provider.
- You must start the dispute within 120 calendar days of the date on the bill.
- The process is run by the Department of Health and Human Services, not by the provider, and an independent third party reviews it.
- Starting a dispute cannot be used as a reason to refuse you care or to retaliate against you.
Details and the initiation form are at cms.gov/nosurprises, or call 1-800-985-3059.
Practically speaking: if a bill here ever looks wrong to you, say so first. Most discrepancies are a scheduling or billing error and get fixed in a day. The dispute process exists for when that conversation does not resolve it.
Asking for an estimate
You can request a Good Faith Estimate at any point, including before you have decided whether to work with this practice at all. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Email drsteel01@gmail.com or request a consultation and say that you would like an estimate. Keep a copy of whatever you receive.