Appeal a decision to stop Social Security disability benefits

Protect two separate deadlines

A medical cessation appeal is generally due within 60 days after you receive the notice. To ask that eligible benefits continue during the appeal, current Form SSA-792 says Social Security must receive the election no later than 15 calendar days from the date on the cessation notice. Follow the exact notice and form instructions immediately.

1. Confirm that this is a medical cessation case

Use this process when Social Security has decided after a continuing disability review, or another medical review, that you are no longer disabled or blind and intends to stop disability benefits. It can apply to Social Security Disability Insurance, disabled-worker or auxiliary benefits, and Supplemental Security Income based on disability or blindness.

Do not use this route for an initial disability denial, a nonmedical issue such as income or resources, an overpayment decision, or a work-related suspension unless the notice specifically identifies a medical cessation appeal. The notice controls the appeal route.

2. Read the cessation notice and record its dates

Keep the full notice, envelope, and every enclosure. Record the date printed on the notice and the date you actually received it. Social Security generally treats an appeal as timely when filed within 60 days after receipt and commonly presumes receipt five days after the notice date unless you show it arrived later.

The continuation election has a shorter rule. Federal regulations describe a request within 10 days after receipt. The current SSA-792 operational form states a 15-calendar-day deadline measured from the date on the notice. These usually reflect the same five-day mailing presumption, but you should follow the earlier date shown by your notice or form rather than calculate extra time.

3. File Form SSA-789 for reconsideration

Use Form SSA-789, Request for Reconsideration—Disability Cessation Right to Appear, edition 04-2026. Prior editions are discontinued. Explain specifically why you disagree with the medical cessation and whether you or a representative want to appear at a disability hearing. Social Security provides an interpreter at no cost when one is needed.

Do not substitute Form SSA-561 for a medical continuing-disability cessation. Social Security's current operating instructions identify SSA-789 as the correct form. A clear written disagreement can protect the filing date, but complete the requested forms promptly so the case can be developed and scheduled.

4. Make a separate benefit-continuation election

Submit Form SSA-792, Statutory Benefit Continuation Election Statement, edition 07-2026, if you want to elect or decline continuation during the medical reconsideration. The form must accompany an appeal request or follow an appeal already submitted. Send it to the local Social Security office by mail or in person, or use an official online completion or upload option when the Social Security forms catalog makes it available.

If the election is late, complete the good-cause section. Social Security decides whether the reason permits a late continuation election. Filing the 60-day appeal alone does not automatically elect continued payments.

5. Understand the repayment risk

If you elect continued cash benefits and ultimately lose the appeal, the payments received during the appeal can become an overpayment that Social Security asks you to repay. Form SSA-792 explains that you may later request waiver of recovery, but a waiver is not automatic. The form also states that you will not be asked to repay Medicare benefits received while the medical cessation appeal is pending.

Report work, income, living-arrangement, dependent, and other changes that can affect payment while the appeal is pending. Benefit continuation does not override separate payment rules.

6. Submit current medical and functional evidence

Describe changes since the last favorable disability decision, current diagnoses, treatment, medications, side effects, testing, hospitalizations, therapy, assistive devices, and limits on daily activities and work. Identify treating sources and provide requested authorizations. Social Security may also request the current Disability Report—Appeal and other supporting forms.

Focus on why the impairment remains disabling under Social Security's rules, not only on disagreement with the notice. Attend any consultative examination scheduled by Social Security; the agency pays for an examination it requires.

7. Prepare for the disability hearing

A disability hearing officer reviews the medical cessation at reconsideration. Form SSA-789 lets you request an appearance, present evidence, explain your limitations, and identify a representative. Notify the hearing unit promptly about an address change, hospitalization, representative, interpreter need, or scheduling problem.

SSA announced in March 2026 that medical continuing disability reviews were being brought in-house through its federal Disability Case Review operation. Use the Social Security office and contacts in your notice rather than sending appeal papers to a state agency based on older instructions.

8. Act on the reconsideration decision

If the reconsideration remains unfavorable, the notice should explain how to request a hearing before an administrative law judge. That appeal generally has its own 60-day deadline. A person seeking continued benefits at the hearing level must make a new continuation election within the shorter deadline stated on the notice and Form SSA-792.

Keep a complete copy of every form, attachment, fax report, upload receipt, mailing record, and office-stamped submission. This page provides general procedural information, not a determination that continued benefits or a favorable disability decision will be granted.