How to Appeal a Denial in New York: Fair Hearings, the 10-Day Rule That Keeps Your Benefits On, and Where to File
Two clocks run at the same time and they are not the same length. One is your deadline to ask for a hearing at all — 60 days for most cases, 90 for food benefits. The other is the deadline to keep your money coming while you wait, and it runs out in about ten days. Miss the short one and you still get your hearing. You just get it with nothing arriving in the meantime, which for most people is the whole point.
If a notice says your benefits will stop or be reduced on a certain date, file before that date and ask for aid continuing by name. Everything else can be sorted out later.
The two deadlines
| Program | To get a hearing | To keep benefits meanwhile |
|---|---|---|
| Medicaid, including Medicare Savings Programs | 60 days from the notice | Before the effective date on the notice |
| Cash assistance, State Supplement Program | 60 days | Before the effective date |
| SNAP | 90 days | Before the effective date |
The notice itself must state your time limit. If the notice and this table disagree, the notice wins — read it.
In practice the aid-continuing window works out to roughly ten days, because agencies generally date the change ten days after the notice goes out. That is why the state's own instruction is to fax or postmark your request the way the Notice of Intent describes. Mailing an ordinary letter is the slowest possible way to meet a ten-day deadline.
One honest warning. If you keep receiving benefits under aid continuing and then lose the hearing, you can be asked to pay that money back as an overpayment. For most people it is still worth requesting — losing income now while you wait months is a real harm, and most of what gets appealed is a paperwork error. But you should know it before you decide, and nobody at the agency will bring it up.
Four ways to file
| Method | Details |
|---|---|
| Online | The state's Fair Hearing Online Request Form. Published in thirteen languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Bengali, Haitian Creole, Korean, Polish, Arabic, Yiddish and Urdu. Fastest route, and it gives you a confirmation to print. |
| Phone | 1-800-342-3334. The state warns that call volume is heavy and asks you to use the online form if you can. |
| Fax or mail | Fax 518-473-6735. Mail to Office of Administrative Hearings, P.O. Box 1930, Albany, NY 12201-1930. Fax if the aid-continuing clock is running. |
| In person | 5 Beaver Street in Manhattan, or 40 North Pearl Street in Albany. |
Source: NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Request a Fair Hearing.
Two special numbers. If you are in New York City and the situation is a genuine emergency, there is a separate line at 1-800-205-0110. If you are hearing impaired, use New York Relay at 711 and ask the operator to call 877-502-6155.
However you file, you should receive a mailed acknowledgement — a form called OAH-4420. It confirms the request landed and tells you whether aid continuing was granted. If it does not arrive, call. Do not assume silence means yes.
What to say, in the box or on the phone
You do not have to make a legal argument. You do not need to know which rule the agency broke. Three things get the request accepted and preserved.
Not "I'd like to keep my benefits." The phrase is a term of art and it is what gets checked off. Say it on the phone, write it in the reason box, put it in the fax cover. This is the single most valuable sentence on this page.
"My Medicaid was closed on a notice dated the 3rd and I do not agree." That is enough. You are not being graded. The hearing itself is where the facts come out, and the agency has to explain and defend its decision there.
An interpreter. A home hearing if you are homebound. Days you cannot be reached. Say it when you file, not later. Hearings on the State Supplement Program are held by telephone by default, and you can ask for an in-person hearing instead — note it in the comments box.
On the day, the judge calls you. The number may show as blocked, private, or with a 212, 718 or 518 area code. Let blocked calls through that day. If you miss it, the judge tries once more about ten minutes later, and after that the case can default.
When it isn't a fair hearing at all
Three denials look identical in the mailbox and go to three different places. Sending a good appeal to the wrong office wastes the deadline.
| If the denial is about | It goes to |
|---|---|
| Medicaid, SNAP, cash, the state supplement | A state fair hearing, as described above |
| Medicaid, but you last applied or renewed through NY State of Health | Possibly the Department of Health instead. Your notice says which. Check before you file. |
| A service your managed care or long-term care plan refused | The Managed Care Hearing Unit, a different address — P.O. Box 22023, Albany, NY 12201-2023. Read the plan's letter for its own appeal step too. |
| SSI or Social Security disability | Not a fair hearing. That is a federal appeal through Social Security, on its own 60-day clock. New York is one of the states where a denial generally moves straight to an administrative law judge instead of a reconsideration step — your letter will name the next stage. |
The shaded rows are where people lose time. When in doubt, call the number printed on the notice and ask which office handles the appeal.
Legal aid offices represent people at fair hearings at no charge, and counselors through the state's Medicare program will read the notice with you. Neither charges a fee and neither sells anything.
Every New York senior program in one place →Six ways people lose an appeal they should have won
The hearing is preserved and the money stops anyway. The clock that pays your rent is the short one, not the long one.
It is not automatic and it is not inferred from context. Two words, and people lose months of benefits for want of them.
The state says to fax or postmark as the notice directs. Fax gives you a timestamp. Regular mail may not arrive in time for benefits to continue uninterrupted, and the state says so itself.
Print the online receipt. Keep the fax report. If the acknowledgement letter never comes, that piece of paper is the difference between "we have no record" and a rescheduled hearing.
Blocked number, two attempts, ten minutes apart. Miss both and the case can be defaulted. It can sometimes be reopened for good cause, but that is another form and another wait.
A Social Security denial is not a fair hearing. A managed care denial has its own unit and its own address. The notice tells you where — and the deadline keeps running while the wrong office figures out it is not theirs.
| Agency | NYS OTDA, Office of Administrative Hearings |
| Request by phone | 1-800-342-3334 |
| NYC emergency only | 1-800-205-0110 |
| Fax | 518-473-6735 |
| Hearing impaired | NY Relay 711, ask for 877-502-6155 |
| P.O. Box 1930, Albany, NY 12201-1930 | |
| Managed care appeals | P.O. Box 22023, Albany, NY 12201-2023 |
| Request form and rules | otda.ny.gov — request a fair hearing |
Related programs
If you were told you don't qualifyMedicare Savings Program: New York limits→ If your payment droppedWhat New York adds to your SSI check→ The reporting rule behind many cutsWhat you must report, and to whom→ If SNAP was cutFood help for older New Yorkers→Tools you'll need
lsc.gov — find free legal help near you
lawhelpny.org — New York legal self-help
aging.ny.gov — free Medicare counseling, 1-800-701-0501
eldercare.acl.gov — 1-800-677-1116
211.org — local help finder
Sources. New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Fair Hearings — Request a Fair Hearing, and How to Apply for Services. State Supplement Program hearing procedure under 18 NYCRR 358-5.12. Deadline ranges reflect New York public assistance, Medicaid and SNAP hearing rules as summarized by state-funded legal services programs; the time limit printed on your own notice governs your case.
Verified: July 31, 2026.
This page explains a public process. It is not legal advice and Benefit Almanac is not a law firm. If your benefits are ending, contact a legal services office — representation at fair hearings is free for people who qualify.
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