Reminder on how employees can send appeals to the PEBB Program

Washington State Health Care Authority sent this bulletin at 02/05/2026 03:00 PM PST

February 5, 2026

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Reminder on how employees can send appeals to the PEBB Program

Dear Benefits Administrators,

Back in April of 2025, we announced that the PEBB Appeals Unit launched an all-new online appeals portal. We wanted to remind BAs that employees can use this secure online portal to request a brief adjudicative proceeding (a simplified legal hearing, also referred to as an appeal) of an employer decision or a PEBB Program decision and have it immediately go to the PEBB Appeals Unit.

Instructions for employees on how to access and use the appeals portal

From the HCA Support home page, select “Public Inquiry” and log in to
SAW. If you do not have a SAW account, you will need to create one.
Once logged in, select “Make A Request” and choose “Benefits Appeal
Request.” You should see a screen asking you to choose the primary
account holder.
Select the applicable option. Next, select your relationship to the appellant. Once you do this, the appeal form will populate additional selections that mirror the paper form.

We also want to remind BAs that they should not submit appeals on behalf of their employees and they should not submit an employee appeal to Outreach and Training (O&T) as a ticket through HCA Support.

Circumstances when an employee might use the online portal to submit an appeal:

Employee disagrees with an employer decision:

The employee must first appeal to their employer using the paper form. If the employee disagrees with the employer's final decision and wishes to appeal to the PEBB Program using the online portal, the employee must attach/upload a copy of the employer’s decision to the portal. For more information, visit the PEBB Benefits Administrators appeals process webpage.

Employee disagrees with a decision from the PEBB Program:

The employee must follow the appeal instructions on the decision letter they received from the PEBB Program.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. For further clarification or assistance, please reach out to our Outreach & Training team via HCA Support or call 1-800-700-1555.

About the Health Care Authority (HCA)

Functioning as both the state's largest health care purchaser and its behavioral health authority, the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) is a leader in ensuring Washington residents have the opportunity to be as healthy as possible.

There are three pillars of our work: Apple Health (Medicaid); the Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB) and School Employees Benefits Board (SEBB) programs; and behavioral health and recovery. Under these pillars, HCA purchases health care, including behavioral health treatment for more than 2.7 million Washington residents and provides behavioral health prevention, crisis, and recovery supports to all Washington residents.

Please do not reply directly to this message. For more information, visit the HCA website, where you'll also find contact information.

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Nondiscrimination

The Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) complies with all applicable federal and Washington state civil rights laws and is committed to providing equal access to our services. Visit HCA’s website to view complete nondiscrimination statements.

Reminder on how employees can send appeals to the PEBB Program

Reminder on how employees can send appeals to the PEBB Program

Instructions for employees on how to access and use the appeals portal

Circumstances when an employee might use the online portal to submit an appeal:

Employee disagrees with an employer decision:

Employee disagrees with a decision from the PEBB Program:

Thank you for subscribing to receive notices from Outreach and Training.

About the Health Care Authority (HCA)

Disclosure notice

Nondiscrimination