Benefits Denied, Cut or Ended? Appeal Deadlines for SNAP, Medicaid, SSI and More, With a Notice Date Calculator

Look at the date on the notice first. For SNAP and Medicaid, if you ask for a hearing before the change starts, your benefits stay the same while you wait, and the change cannot start sooner than 10 days after the notice was mailed; you can still ask for a hearing for up to 90 days, but then your benefits do not wait with you. For SSI, appeal within 10 days of getting the notice to keep your payment, and within 60 days to appeal at all. Choose your program below and type the notice’s date to see each of your deadlines as a date.

What should I do first when a notice cuts or ends my benefits?

Find two dates on the notice: the date it was printed and the day the change starts. Then ask for a hearing before the change starts if you want to keep your benefits while you wait. That one step is the deadline people miss most, because it comes long before the last day to appeal.

A hearing (also called a fair hearing or an appeal) is a meeting with a hearing officer who did not make the decision. You say why the decision is wrong, and the officer decides. You do not need a lawyer to ask for one. A notice that cuts or ends your benefits must tell you how to ask, and for SNAP it must also say that your benefits can continue while you wait and that you may have to pay back the extra if you lose (7 CFR 273.13(a)(2)). A Medicaid notice must state the action, the reasons, the rule behind it, your right to a hearing and when coverage continues if you ask for one (42 CFR 431.210).

• Write down the date printed on the notice: the deadlines count from it, even if the letter reached you later. Keep the envelope too: if it came late, the postmark can help you show that.
• Ask in writing if you can, keep a copy, and write down the day you asked and how. The office’s own clock runs from the day it gets your request.
• Ask before the earliest deadline, not on the last day. Mail takes time.
• Keep sending anything the office asks for while you wait.

This site takes no appeals and sends nothing to any office. The calculator above only counts the days; the office that sent your notice is the one you write to.

Why are there two deadlines?

Because keeping your benefits during the appeal and having an appeal at all are two different rights. For SNAP, you can ask for a hearing on any action in the last 90 days (7 CFR 273.15(g)). But your benefits continue at the old level only if you ask within the notice period, the time between the notice and the day the change starts, and before your approval period ends (7 CFR 273.15(k)(1)). Ask on day 30 and you still get your hearing, but the cut has already started.

Medicaid works the same way. You have up to 90 days from the day the notice was mailed to ask for a hearing, and your state may give fewer (42 CFR 431.221(d)). Your coverage continues only if you ask before the date of action (42 CFR 431.230(a)).

The calculator shows both. When you do not know the day the change starts, it counts the shortest notice the rule allows, so the date it shows is the earliest the deadline could be.

SNAP: how long do I have, and do my food benefits continue?

Before a state cuts or ends your SNAP during your approval period, it must mail a notice at least 10 days before the change takes effect (7 CFR 273.13(a)(1)). Ask for a hearing within that notice period to keep SNAP the same while you wait. If the period ends on a weekend or holiday, a request the office gets on the next day still counts.

• To keep SNAP while you wait: ask before the day the change starts.
• To have a hearing at all: ask within 90 days of the action. Count the 90 days from the date on the notice, the earliest they can start, not from the day the change starts.
• How to ask: any clear sign, spoken or written, that you want to appeal counts, and the state must help you and may not get in the way (7 CFR 273.15(h)).
• When the state must decide: a state-level hearing must be held and decided within 60 days of your request; a local-level one within 45 days. If you win, the SNAP you are owed must reach your EBT card within 10 days of the decision (7 CFR 273.15(c)).
• Turned down for fast (expedited) SNAP: you can ask for an agency conference, which must be set within 2 working days (weekends and holidays do not count), and you can still ask for a hearing (7 CFR 273.15(d)).

Continued SNAP can still stop before the decision if your approval period ends, if the only issue is a federal rule, or if a later change you do not also appeal affects your case (7 CFR 273.15(k)(2)).

Missed the 90 days? A late request is treated as a request to restore lost benefits. If you lost SNAP through the state’s mistake, it must give back up to 12 months of it, even if you are not eligible now (7 CFR 273.17(a)).

Medicaid and CHIP: how long do I have, and does my coverage continue?

The state must send a notice at least 10 days before it cuts, suspends or ends your coverage; in a case of likely fraud it can be 5 days (42 CFR 431.211). Ask for a hearing before the date of action and the state may not cut or end your coverage until there is a decision, unless the only issue is a law or policy (42 CFR 431.230(a)).

Some notices may come on the day of the action itself, for example after a death, your own signed statement or mail sent back because your address is unknown (42 CFR 431.213). If the state acted without the advance notice the rule requires (the notice came less than 10 days before the change, or after it), it must put your coverage back while you wait if you ask within 10 days of getting the notice, counted as 5 days after its date, unless the change came from a law or policy that applies to everyone (42 CFR 431.231(c)).

The state’s final answer is ordinarily due within 90 days of the day it gets your request (42 CFR 431.244(f)). If you win, it must put things right back to the day of the wrong action (42 CFR 431.246). If income was the reason you were turned down or cut off, the notice must also tell you about other ways you might qualify, such as age or a disability (42 CFR 435.917). A state that is too slow on your application owes you a hearing for that too (42 CFR 431.220(a)(1)).

In a CHIP program run apart from Medicaid, you are owed a review of a denial, a late decision, or a suspension or end of coverage; how long you have to ask is set by your state and printed on the notice (42 CFR 457.1130).

A notice about Medicaid’s work rule

From January 1, 2027, many adults covered through Medicaid expansion must show 80 hours a month of work, community service, a work program or school, or enough income, unless they are left out of the rule (42 CFR 435.550 to 435.563). If the state cannot confirm it from its own records, it sends a notice. You then have 30 calendar days beginning on the day you get it, which counts as 5 days after its date and is the first of the 30, to show your hours, your income or an exemption, and your coverage goes on during those days (42 CFR 435.558). So for a notice dated March 27, the last day is April 30. If you do not answer, the state must first check every other way you could qualify. Coverage can then end no later than the end of the month after the month the 30 days end, after another notice with the right to a hearing. In the calculator, choose Medicaid or CHIP and “Work rule: hours or an exemption” to see the dates.

SSI and Social Security disability: how long do I have?

Social Security counts from the day you get the notice, which it takes to be 5 days after the date printed on it (20 CFR 416.1401; 20 CFR 404.901). That is why the deadlines below are 5 days longer than they look.

• To keep your SSI at the old amount while you wait: appeal within 10 days after you get the notice (20 CFR 416.1336(b)).
• If SSA says you are no longer disabled: ask for reconsideration and for benefits to continue within 10 days after you get the notice, for SSI and for Social Security disability (20 CFR 416.996; 20 CFR 404.1597a).
• To appeal at all: ask for reconsideration in writing within 60 days after you get the notice (20 CFR 416.1409; 20 CFR 404.909). After that, a hearing before a judge and then the Appeals Council must each be asked for within 60 days of the decision before it (20 CFR 416.1433).
• Missed it for a good reason? Ask in writing for more time and say why: a serious illness, a death in the family, lost records or trouble with English are among the reasons SSA accepts (20 CFR 404.909(b)).

We have not found a rule that gives SSA a set number of days to decide an appeal, so the calculator does not show one.

Marketplace health insurance: how long do I have?

You can appeal a marketplace decision within 90 days of the date of the notice; a state’s own marketplace may use the time its Medicaid hearings use, never less than 30 days (45 CFR 155.520(b)). You can appeal by phone, by mail, online or in person where that is offered. If you appeal a change to your eligibility, you can keep the same plan and the same advance tax credit while it is decided (45 CFR 155.525). A decision is due within 90 days of your request, as far as the appeals office can manage (45 CFR 155.545). If a state marketplace decides against you, you can take it to the federal appeals office within 30 days.

WIC: how long do I have?

The clinic must tell you in writing at least 15 days before it stops WIC in the middle of a certification (7 CFR 246.7(j)). Appeal within those 15 days and you keep WIC until the decision or until your certification ends, whichever comes first. You have at least 60 days from the notice to ask for a hearing. The hearing must be held within three weeks of your request, and the decision is due within 45 days (7 CFR 246.9). If you were turned down when you first applied, you can appeal, but you do not get WIC while you wait.

TANF cash help: how long do I have?

Your state decides. Federal law requires every state’s TANF plan to say how families hurt by a decision can be heard in an appeal (42 U.S.C. 602(a)(1)(B)(iii)), but it sets no number of days for the notice, for asking for a hearing or for keeping your cash while you wait. Your notice gives your state’s deadline. If you choose your state in the calculator, it links to your state’s own TANF page where we have it.

Child care help: how long do I have?

Your state sets the notice and the appeal deadline; federal rules set none (45 CFR 98.16). Federal rules do limit when help can end: your state checks your eligibility no sooner than 12 months after the last time (45 CFR 98.21). In between, it may end help only:

• when your family’s income goes over 85% of your state’s median income (one high month from pay that goes up and down does not count);
• after a lasting stop in work, school or training, if your state ends help for that at all, and only after keeping it going for at least three months so you can look for work or go back; if by then you are working or in school or training again, with income under 85% of state median income, it goes on;
• after at least three months, for a parent who qualified while looking for work and still has no job, if your state does that;
• or for many unexplained absences after warnings, a move out of the state, or proven fraud.

A short break (an illness, a seasonal gap, a school break, fewer hours) does not end help. A notice that ends help early for another reason is worth asking about.

Housing vouchers and public housing: how long do I have?

Your housing authority’s notice must give the deadline; HUD sets no number of days. Before it ends a voucher for something the family did or did not do, it must give prompt written notice with the reasons and offer an informal hearing before it stops paying the rent (24 CFR 982.555). You can also ask for a hearing about how your income and rent were worked out. If you were turned down for a voucher, you can ask for an informal review (24 CFR 982.554). In public housing, a notice ending your lease must give at least 30 days for unpaid rent and 30 days for most other reasons (24 CFR 966.4(l)(3)).

Help with energy bills: can I appeal?

Yes. Every state must offer a fair hearing to people turned down for energy help, or whose application was not acted on with reasonable promptness (42 U.S.C. 8624(b)(13)). The deadline is your state’s, and it is on your notice. In an energy crisis, help must come within 48 hours of applying, or 18 hours when a life is at risk, if you are eligible (42 U.S.C. 8623(c)).

My case was closed over paperwork. How do I get it back?

Most closings over paperwork can be fixed without starting again, if you act within the time the rule gives.

• A missed SNAP interview. Missing an interview is not a refusal to cooperate. The office must tell you that you missed it, and if you call within the 30 days after you applied, it must give you a second interview and cannot deny you before day 30 for the first miss (7 CFR 273.2(e)(3)). At renewal, if you ask for another interview, you must get one (7 CFR 273.14(b)(3)).
• A Medicaid renewal form you did not send back. Send it within 90 days after your coverage ended, and the state must look at it again without a new application (42 CFR 435.916(a)(3)(iii)).
• A late SNAP renewal. Filed within 30 days after your approval ends, it still counts as a renewal; SNAP for that month starts from the day you filed (7 CFR 273.14(e)).
• A missed SNAP periodic report. The state sends a reminder giving you 10 days; only no answer ends the case (7 CFR 273.12(a)(5)).
• Medicaid ended over the work rule. Send your hours, income or exemption within the same 90 days and the state must look at it without a new application; it may not stop you from applying again (42 CFR 435.558).

Whatever the cause, you can still ask for a hearing if you think the closing was wrong, inside the deadlines above.

What happens at a SNAP hearing?

You get at least 10 days’ written notice of when and where it is. You may see your whole case file free of charge, bring a lawyer, a relative or a friend, bring witnesses, and question the state’s evidence (7 CFR 273.15(l), (p)). If you do not come and have no good reason, the hearing can be dismissed. You may put it off for up to 30 days, which moves the state’s deadline by the same number of days. For Medicaid, you can ask for a faster hearing when waiting could put your life, your health or your ability to function at risk (42 CFR 431.224).

What if I lose the appeal?

Keeping your benefits during an appeal can cost money later if you lose. Weigh that, and ask a legal aid office if you are unsure. You can also give up continued benefits and still have your hearing.

• SNAP: the extra SNAP paid while you waited becomes a claim (7 CFR 273.15(k)(1)). The state takes a claim back by cutting your monthly SNAP by $10 or 10% a month, whichever is more, for a mistake, or $20 or 20% for breaking a rule on purpose, unless you agree to more (7 CFR 273.18(g)). You get 90 days to ask for a hearing on the claim itself.
• Medicaid: the state may ask you to pay back the cost of care you got only because coverage went on while you waited. It may; it does not have to (42 CFR 431.230(b)).
• SSI and Social Security disability: payments made while you waited become an overpayment. You can ask SSA to waive it, and it looks at waiver if you appealed in good faith (20 CFR 416.996). SSI overpayments are taken back at no more than 10% of your income a month; you can ask for a lower or a higher rate, and the limit does not apply when the overpayment came from fraud or hiding facts (20 CFR 416.571). For Social Security, SSA withholds 50% of the monthly benefit by default for notices since April 25, 2025, unless you ask for a lower rate (SSA EM-25029 REV).
• The marketplace: advance tax credit paid while you waited is settled on your tax return, and from tax year 2026 any amount above what you were due is paid back in full (45 CFR 155.520(d); Public Law 119-21, sec. 71305).
• WIC: WIC kept during the appeal stops as soon as it can; the rule does not say you must pay it back.

Where do I send my request?

To the office that sent the notice, in the way the notice says. For SNAP, a clear spoken or written request is enough; for SSI and Social Security disability, ask in writing at a Social Security office or as your notice says; for the marketplace, by phone, mail or online. Applying and appealing are free. No one can charge you a fee to get your benefits back, and this site never takes requests: it only counts the days.

Rules checked November 1, 2026.

Questions people ask

How many days do I have to appeal a SNAP decision?

90 days from the action to ask for a hearing; count them from the date on the notice. To keep your SNAP the same while you wait, ask before the day the change starts, which is at least 10 days after the notice was mailed.

Can my Medicaid stop while I appeal?

Not if you ask for a hearing before the date of action on your notice, unless the only issue is a law or policy that applies to everyone. If you ask later, you still get a hearing, but coverage can stop meanwhile.

Why does Social Security add 5 days?

Its rules count from the day you get the notice and take that to be 5 days after the date printed on it, unless you show it came later. So “60 days” is 65 days from the printed date.

What if the deadline falls on a weekend?

For SNAP, if the notice period ends on a weekend or holiday, a request the office gets the next day still counts. For the other programs, do not count on more time: ask before the weekend.

Do I have to pay back benefits if I lose my appeal?

You may. For SNAP, the extra becomes a claim; for SSI and Social Security disability, an overpayment you can ask to have waived; for Medicaid, the state may ask, but does not have to.

My case was closed because I missed my interview. Is it too late?

Not if you act inside the 30 days after you applied: call the office and ask for a second interview, which it must give you. After that, you can reapply, and you can ask for a hearing if you think the closing was wrong.

Does this site send my appeal?

No. Nothing you type is sent or saved. The calculator only counts the days; you send your request to the office that sent the notice.

Updated November 1, 2026