How long do I have to appeal?

For most health plans covered by the Affordable Care Act you have 180 days from the denial notice to file an internal appeal. Your plan's notice states the exact deadline and where to send the appeal, so go by that.

Why mail it instead of using the insurer's portal?

A portal upload is fine if your plan accepts it, but certified mail with a return receipt gives you an independent, dated record that the appeal arrived before the deadline. That record helps if the insurer later says it never got it.

What should the appeal include?

Your name, member ID, claim number, what was denied, why the denial is wrong, and what you want. A letter of medical necessity from your doctor and copies of relevant records make it much stronger.

What if the internal appeal is denied too?

Under the Affordable Care Act you can usually ask for an external review by an independent reviewer. The final denial letter explains how.

How to appeal a health insurance denial by certified mail, with AI

Health insurers deny claims every day, and many denials are overturned on appeal. The appeal has to reach the insurer by the deadline in your denial notice, at the address it gives. Sending it by certified mail with a return receipt gives you proof that it did.

With Mailsnail connected to your AI assistant, you can turn the denial notice into an appeal letter and mail it in one conversation.

Connect once

Add this URL to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any app that supports MCP connectors, then sign in:

https://api.mailsnail.dev/mcp

Step-by-step instructions for each app are on the setup page.

Draft it with the assistant

Give it the facts from the denial notice. For example:

My insurer, Northstar Health, denied claim 8834-221 for an MRI of my knee, saying it wasn't medically necessary. My orthopedist ordered it after six weeks of physical therapy didn't help, and she wrote a letter of medical necessity, which is at the link below. Draft an appeal letter that answers the denial reason, includes my member ID NH4410982, and asks them to reverse the decision. Put her letter after mine in one PDF and send it to Northstar Health Appeals, PO Box 3100, Hartford CT 06103 by certified mail with an electronic return receipt. Show me the proof first.

The strongest appeals answer the insurer's stated reason head on, use the plan's own language where it helps, and include your doctor's support. Ask the assistant to keep it factual and to list what's enclosed.

Keep it within the page limit

Combine the letter and your supporting pages into one PDF and give the assistant a link to it. Keep the whole package to five pages or fewer. If you have more records than that, send the appeal letter and the doctor's letter, and say the full records are available on request or will follow separately.

What happens next

verify_address checks that the appeals address is deliverable. Free.
preview_letter renders the letter and returns a proof PDF and the exact price. Nothing is charged.
You read the proof. Check the claim number, member ID and that every page you meant to include is there.
send_letter mails it by certified mail with the return receipt you chose and gives you a receipt token.

Pick your proof

Service	What you get	From a balance	One letter by card
Certified	USPS tracking and proof of mailing	$8.61	$8.83
Certified + electronic return receipt	The recipient's signature as a PDF	$11.64	$11.83
Certified + green card	The signed card mailed back to you	$14.27	$14.42

One page, black and white. Extra pages are priced at our cost and the preview always shows the exact figure.

Keep the record

Save the receipt token with your claim file. Later, ask the assistant "has Northstar received my appeal?" and get_letter returns the USPS tracking number, the latest scan and, for an electronic return receipt, a link to the signature PDF.

What Mailsnail doesn't do

We print and mail exactly what you approve. We don't give medical or legal advice. Your state's consumer assistance program or insurance department can help with appeals for free.