Medicaid appeals in Ohio: hearing deadline and keeping benefits
Ohio Medicaid: you have 90 days to ask for a fair hearing.
Ohio gives 15 calendar days of advance notice before reducing, suspending or ending benefits. If State Hearings, your county agency or your managed care plan receives your hearing request within that 15-day notice period, your benefits stay the same until the hearing decision.
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.
Medicaid (Ohio Medicaid) denials in Ohio
- Medicaid agency
Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) and county departments of job and family services
- Who holds the hearing
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), Bureau of State Hearings
- Hearing deadline
90 days
The day after the notice was mailed (the 90 days start the day after the mailing date; the request counts as made on the date State Hearings or the county agency receives it)
- How to ask for a hearing
- Email: Email bsh@jfs.ohio.gov with 'State Hearing Request' in the subject and the information from the top of your notice
- Phone: ODJFS Consumer Access Line 1-866-635-3748; follow the instructions for State Hearings (only you may request by phone)
- Fax: Fax the hearing request page to State Hearings at (614) 728-9574
- Mail: State Hearings, P.O. Box 182825, Columbus, Ohio 43218-2825
- In person: Give the completed and signed request to your caseworker at the county agency, or phone your caseworker
- Mail address
State Hearings, P.O. Box 182825, Columbus, Ohio 43218-2825
- What to include
Sign and date the request and give your phone number; include the case number and other information from the top of your notice, and say if you need an interpreter. If someone else asks for you, include your signed authorized-representative statement. Keep proof of when and how you sent it, and send it only once.
Law: Ohio Admin. Code 5101:6-3-02, 5101:6-4-01; ODM 01717 (Rev. 12/2021) hearing request page
- Keeping your benefits during the appeal
Ohio gives 15 calendar days of advance notice before reducing, suspending or ending benefits. If State Hearings, your county agency or your managed care plan receives your hearing request within that 15-day notice period, your benefits stay the same until the hearing decision. If you ask within 10 days after the change takes effect and show good cause (such as illness or a death in the family), benefits are reinstated.
Law: Ohio Admin. Code 5101:6-4-01(A), (C); Ohio Admin. Code 5101:6-3-02, 5101:6-4-01; ODM 01717 (Rev. 12/2021) hearing request page
Medicaid health plan (managed care) in Ohio
- Appeal to the plan first
Appeal to your Medicaid managed care plan (orally or in writing) within 60 calendar days of the date the plan's notice was issued. The plan must decide within 15 calendar days (72 hours for an expedited appeal); either deadline can be extended up to 14 days. If the plan does not decide fully in your favor, ask for a state hearing within 90 calendar days of the appeal decision. To keep services that are being cut or stopped, appeal to the plan within 15 days of the plan's notice, and then ask for a state hearing within 15 days after the plan's appeal decision.
- Then a state hearing
90 days
The mail date of the plan's appeal resolution decision
- If the plan is late
If the plan does not follow the notice and timing rules for appeals, you are treated as having finished the plan appeal and can ask for a state hearing.
Law: Ohio Admin. Code 5160-26-08.4; Ohio Admin. Code 5101:6-3-02(C); Ohio Admin. Code 5101:6-4-01(G)
Write my appeal: free letters
Sources
The official sources for Ohio are listed on the Ohio page.