External review in Connecticut: deadline, cost and how to ask
Connecticut runs its own independent review of denials: External Review Program (Connecticut Insurance Department). You generally have 120 days to ask for it.
External review means a doctor or reviewer outside your plan decides again. Internal appeal means your plan looks at its own decision again.
Checked against official sources: October 30, 2026.
Appeal deadlines are strict. If you are near a deadline or your care is urgent, call free help today.
Step 2: Outside review in Connecticut
- Program
External Review Program (Connecticut Insurance Department)
- Who runs it
- Connecticut Insurance Department (assigns an approved independent review organization at random): Fully insured health plans regulated by the CID and self-insured governmental plans
- Deadline to ask
120 days
You can file a written request for external review with the Insurance Commissioner no later than 120 calendar days after you receive the denial notice.
- The deadline runs from
The date you receive the notice of the adverse determination or final adverse determination (usually the final internal appeal denial letter)
- Do I have to appeal to my plan first?
You must finish the carrier's internal grievance process first, unless the carrier waives it. For urgent care you can ask for expedited external review right after the first denial, at the same time as an expedited internal grievance.
- How long the review takes
Urgent: 48 hours
- Cost
The health carrier pays the cost of the independent review. Connecticut removed its external review filing fee in 2021.
- What can be reviewed
Denials based on medical necessity, appropriateness, health care setting, level of care or effectiveness, including continued stays, experimental or investigational treatment, and (per the Insurance Department) eligibility and rescission of coverage.
- Is the decision final?
The decision is binding on the carrier (or self-insured government plan) and on you, except for other remedies under federal or state law. You cannot ask again for external review of the same denial.
- How to ask
Send the Request for External Review form, completed and signed, with a copy of your ID card and a copy of the final denial letter, to Connecticut Insurance Department, Attn: External Review, P.O. Box 816, Hartford, CT 06142-0816 (overnight delivery: 280 Trumbull Street, 7th Floor, Hartford, CT 06103), or by email to externalreview@ct.gov or fax to 860-297-3872. Add any new medical information, such as a letter from your doctor. For expedited review, also fill out the Expedited External Review section.
Law: Conn. Gen. Stat. 38a-591g
- Forms and online request
- Phone
Write my appeal: free letters
Sources
The official sources for Connecticut are listed on the Connecticut page.