---
title: A Lawsuit Challenges the Paywall Around the Codes on Your Medical Bill
description: A nonprofit is suing the American Medical Association to make CPT medical billing codes free. Here is what a win would, and would not, change for patients.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-08-28T13:00:00.000Z
updated: 2026-08-29T10:43:51.254Z
canonical: https://richhealthmagazine.com/article/cpt-medical-billing-codes-ama-lawsuit
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-elderly-man-wearing-eyeglasses-reading-documents-next-to-a-l-7545296.jpg
categories: Health, Everyday Wellness
content_type: News
region: United States
publication: Rich Health Magazine
access: members
schema_type: Article
---

Look at an itemized medical bill and you will find a column of five-digit numbers next to each charge. The number 99213 means a standard office visit. Those numbers are CPT codes, and they are the language that tells your insurer, your doctor, and you what service was actually performed. The code set that defines them is owned, copyrighted, and licensed for a fee by the American Medical Association. If you want the official book that explains what each code means, a member of the public pays $137.89 for a physical copy.

On August 13, 2026, a price-transparency nonprofit called PatientRightsAdvocate.org filed suit against the AMA in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, asking the court to let it publish the entire CPT code set for free. The case puts a long-standing arrangement in front of a judge: the government requires nearly everyone in American health care to use these codes, and a private membership organization controls who may reproduce them and at what price.

## PatientRightsAdvocate Wants to Publish the Codes for Free

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