A denial is a first answer.
Find out exactly what it says.

A table of the first appeal deadline and the next level. It covers job-based, Marketplace, Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, Veterans Affairs and other coverage. Each is counted from a stated date.

Five words that sound alike, and what each one means. They cover asking the plan to look again, asking an outside reviewer, complaining to a regulator, and filing a grievance.

Three things that look alike on a statement or a bill: a denial, a rejected claim and your normal share of the cost. Learn how to tell them apart and who has to act.

How to tell which date your deadline counts from. Learn what an "at least" minimum means, how weekends are handled where the rules say, and what to try if a deadline has passed.

Use your card, your denial letter and a few questions to find out which kind of health coverage you have. Every deadline and appeal step depends on it.

What the lines on an Explanation of Benefits mean, how to tell what you owe from what was refused, and why you should not pay from it alone.

What published figures show about how often appeals change denials. The numbers from different programs cannot be compared. Here is how to decide for your own case.

Four ways to find out if your employer plan pays claims itself or buys insurance. This changes who regulates it and how you get an outside review.

Six different ways a plan can say no, where each one shows up, and which clock and rules go with it, so you know what you are actually holding.

Almost every denial reason falls into one of three families: paperwork, coverage or clinical. Knowing which one you have tells you who acts first and what evidence helps.

Which agency oversees each kind of health coverage, and where to send a complaint. A state insurance department cannot help with every plan.

Work out who must act first on a denial: you, your provider, the plan, or you and your provider together. Then learn how to get the right person moving.

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.