Read your denial letter

Find your deadline now

Type the date printed on your letter and pick your coverage. Your notice controls: if it says something different, follow it.

Choose your coverage and enter the date printed on your notice.

A denial letter has five jobs: what was refused, why, which rule was used, how to challenge it, and by when.
The reason on the letter is a starting point. Ask for the rule and the clinical explanation behind it.
Asking for missing information does not count as filing an appeal.

More guides, tools, letters 10

How to read a denial letter line by line
Find the reason, the rule the plan relied on, your appeal rights and your deadline in a denial letter. Read them in the order that makes the letter easiest to act on.
The first 48 hours after a denial
A calm list of what to do, and what to hold off on, in the first two days after a health plan says no to care, a drug or a claim.
What a denial letter must tell you
A federal rule lists what a denial notice from an employer plan or an insurance company must contain. Here is the exact list, and what to do when something is missing.
Your rights when a health plan says no
The main rights federal rules give you after a denial, in plain words, with the limits. See what a private plan must do and what Medicare, Medicaid and other programs add or change.

Tool

Denial letter checker

Tick what your denial letter contains and see what is missing and how to demand it.
Tool

Start here: four questions

Answer four questions about what you received and get your path, the general deadline for your coverage and your first steps, with the phone call to make first if care is ending.

Letter or script

Ask for a denial in writing

A written request for a proper denial notice when the plan has only told you by phone that it will not approve or pay. It lists what the notice must contain so you know your reason and your appeal rights.

Checklist

First 48 hours after a denial

What to do, and what to leave alone, in the first two days after you get a denial, before you write an appeal.
Checklist

What your denial letter should contain

A list of what the federal rules say a denial notice must contain, so you can tick what your letter has and ask for what it lacks.

Run by other organizations.

Questions to keep handy

Your notice or plan document controls if it differs from a general rule. Keep a copy of everything and the date and way you sent it.