A way to browse
Each kind of no has an answer.
Find the one for yours.
A denial for a drug is fought differently from a denial for an emergency room visit or a coding mistake. Pick what was refused to see the arguments, the evidence and the letters that fit.
What do you need to do?
- Prior authorization and pre-approval Time-sensitive A request refused, stuck, or approved and then denied after the care.
- Prescription drugs Time-sensitive A drug that is not covered, needs other drugs tried first, or is limited in quantity.
- Out-of-network and emergency care Emergency visits, ambulances, surprise bills, and care from providers outside the network.
- Mental health and substance use care Time-sensitive Therapy, residential and intensive programs, and using the parity law in an appeal.
- Treatments, tests and equipment Care called not medically necessary or experimental: surgery, imaging, hospital stays, equipment and therapy.
- Billing, coding and paperwork Coding errors, late filing, two insurers, missing information and benefits the plan says it does not cover.
Tools for this step
4 4 tools
Free, no account, nothing leaves your browser.
- Drug exception planner
Find the right request for a drug denial: formulary exception, step therapy exception, tier or quantity exception.
Tool
- Mental health parity self-check
See whether your mental health or substance use denial raises a parity question, and get the request to send.
Tool
- Network exception builder
Build a request to cover out-of-network care at in-network cost when the network cannot provide what you need.
Tool
- Surprise bill checker
See whether the federal No Surprises Act may protect you from an out-of-network bill, with three plain steps, a phone script and two letters.
Tool
Start with
22 22 guides
22 guides in this area
- Guide
Equipment, home health and therapy limits
What to do when a plan denies medical equipment, home health care or therapy visits, or says you used up a visit limit. Also what Medicare says about care that maintains your condition.
- Guide
Experimental or investigational
Your plan says a treatment is experimental, investigational or unproven. Learn how to use the plan's own definition and how to bring evidence and your doctor's judgment.
- Guide
Hospital stay denials
A plan may deny a hospital admission, cut a stay short, or call you an outpatient under observation. Here is what to do, including Medicare's fast appeal for discharges and the childbirth stay rule.
More guides 19
- Ambulance bills
Air ambulance bills are covered by the federal No Surprises Act. Ground ambulance bills are not. Here is what to do about an ambulance bill or a denied ambulance claim.
- Approved, then denied
What to do when your plan approved a service or said it was covered, then refused to pay the claim. Includes what Medicare Advantage plans may not do.
- Coding and billing errors
How to tell if a denial comes from a coding or billing mistake. Learn who must fix it, how to get the codes, correct the claim and ask the plan to reprocess it.
- Drug not covered: formulary exceptions
How to ask your plan to cover a drug that is not on its formulary. See who supplies the medical reasons and the Medicare drug plan deadlines.
- Emergency room claim denied
What to do when your plan denies or reduces an emergency room claim. Learn the prudent layperson standard and why a plan cannot require prior approval for emergency care.
- Level-of-care denials
Your plan says you no longer need the level of mental health or substance use care you are in, such as residential or inpatient treatment. Here is how to keep care going while you appeal.
- Mental health and substance use denials: using the parity law
How to use the federal parity law when appealing a mental health or substance use denial. Learn which documents to demand and what is and is not being enforced as of 11 November 2026.
- Not a covered benefit
What to do when a plan says a service is not a covered benefit or is excluded. Check the plan document and the law, and see which arguments can still work.
- Not medically necessary
What "not medically necessary" means on a denial. See what the plan must show you, how to build an appeal with your doctor, and when independent external review applies.
- Out-of-network denials and network gap exceptions
What to do when your plan denies or underpays care because the provider is out of network. Learn about network gap exceptions, continuity of care and the cases federal law protects.
- Out-of-network underpayment
Your plan paid an out-of-network claim but far less than the provider charged. Learn how plans set the allowed amount and how to use price benchmarks in a dispute.
- Preventing the next denial
Steps to take before, during and after care. They make a denial less likely and an appeal stronger. Get approvals in writing, confirm network status and keep records.
- Prior authorization denied
What to do when your plan refuses to approve a service before you get it. Also which decision deadlines apply to employer, Marketplace, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid plans.
- Prior authorization stuck
What to do when your plan has not answered a prior authorization request, how long each type of plan has, and how to push a stalled request forward.
- Quantity limits, tier exceptions and forced switches
What to do when your plan limits how much of a drug you can get, charges a high tier price, or tells you to switch drugs. Also what Medicare drug plans must do.
- Step therapy exceptions
How to ask your plan to skip the "try this drug first" rule. See what a step therapy exception request must show, and where state rules and Medicare drug plan deadlines fit.
- Surprise bills and the No Surprises Act
Who the federal No Surprises Act protects, which out-of-network bills it bars, which it does not, and how to complain to the No Surprises Help Desk.
- Timely filing, coordination of benefits and eligibility denials
What to do when a claim is denied as filed too late, because another insurer pays first, or because the plan says you were not covered. See who has to fix each one.
- When coverage is cancelled retroactively
What federal rules say about a plan cancelling your coverage back in time. A rescission is different from a cancellation for unpaid premiums. Here is how to appeal.
Letters, checklists and programs
12 12 items
- Surprise bill response
How to check whether the No Surprises Act protects you from an unexpected out-of-network bill, who to ask to fix it, and where to complain.
Checklist
- Ask for the parity comparison for a mental health denial
A written request for the plan's mental health parity comparison and the medical necessity criteria behind a mental health or substance use denial, so you can test the decision against the parity law.
Letter or script
- Medicare drug plan exception request
Ask your Medicare drug plan to cover a drug that is not on its list, or to charge a lower cost-sharing tier. Your prescriber must support the request.
Letter or script
- Off-label or experimental use letter (for your clinician)
A letter in your clinician's voice that responds to an experimental, investigational or off-label denial with the clinical reasons and the evidence for this patient. Every clinical statement is a blank for the clinician to complete.
Letter or script
- Out-of-network necessity letter (for your clinician)
A letter in your clinician's voice explaining why in-network care cannot meet the patient's needs, so the plan should cover an out-of-network provider. Every clinical and network statement is a blank for the clinician to complete.
Letter or script
- Phone script: pharmacy rejection
What to ask at the pharmacy counter and then your plan when a prescription is rejected, so you learn why and what to send.
Letter or script
More letters and checklists 1
- Step therapy exception letter (for your clinician)
A letter in your clinician's voice asking the plan to skip a required first-try drug because it has failed, is unsafe or is otherwise not right for you. Every clinical statement is a blank for the clinician to complete.
Letter or script
Programs and services 5
Run by other organizations. We summarize them and say when we last checked.
- Program or service
FAIR Health Consumer cost estimates
A nonprofit's tools for estimating what providers charge and what insurers pay in your area, plus insurance basics. Useful evidence in an out-of-network payment dispute. It does not file appeals or negotiate for you.
From FAIR Health
- Program or service
Legal Action Center free legal help in New York
Free legal help for New Yorkers with substance use disorders or mental health care needs, including insurance barriers to treatment. Nationwide help is limited to certain addiction-medication cases.
From Legal Action Center
- Program or service
National Alliance on Mental Illness guide to insurance denials
A plain explanation of why mental health care is denied, five signs of a possible parity violation, and a link to a longer appeals guide written with The Kennedy Forum. Information only.
From National Alliance on Mental Illness
- Program or service
No Surprises Help Desk: surprise bill questions and complaints
The federal help desk for questions or complaints that a plan, provider or facility broke the surprise billing rules. It reviews the complaint and may refer it to another federal or state enforcer.
From Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Program or service
Parity Registry appeal support for mental health and addiction care
A step-by-step guide to fighting a denial of mental health, eating disorder or addiction care under the federal parity law, with a complaint registry and a place to share your story. It does not file appeals for you.
From The Kennedy Forum
Your next step may connect
- Build your case
Collect the file, the records, your doctor's support and the plan's own rules, then write it up.
- Appeal
File the appeal, get a fast decision when health is at risk, and take it outside the plan if it says no again.