Editorial policy

Where our facts come from

Every factual claim on this site traces to a primary source — the Department of Labor, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, HealthCare.gov, the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Code of Federal Regulations, or a state insurance department. We cite them at the bottom of each page with the date we checked.

We do not build pages from other people's articles. Where we cite a private source such as an employer benefits survey, we name it and we do not present its figures as our own.

How each page is written

1. Research from primary sources first. Anything we cannot verify is either left out or explicitly labeled as uncertain.
2. Built from primary sources, with every figure traceable to a named federal file and a publication year.
3. Checked automatically for the things that matter most in this subject — including that no page ever suggests voluntarily dropping COBRA opens an enrollment window, because it does not, and saying otherwise could leave someone uninsured.
4. Dated, so you can see how fresh it is.

What we will not publish

• Invented people. No fictional authors, no made-up testimonials, no stock-photo "customers."
• Unsourced statistics. If we cannot point to where a number came from, it does not appear.
• Fake ratings or review counts. Ever.
• Personal quotes or premiums. We publish sourced aggregate figures. What you would pay depends on your county, age and household, and only a licensed agent with a quoting system can tell you that.
• Products where they are not legal. Short-term plans are unavailable in fifteen jurisdictions and we say so on those states' pages rather than advertising something you cannot buy.
• Claims of independence we have not earned. We are paid by one agency. We say so and we do not publish "best plan" rankings.

Updates

Health coverage rules change constantly, and 2026 has been unusually volatile. We review pages when the underlying rule changes, when a data source releases new figures, and at least annually. Enrollment dates live in one configuration file rather than in prose, so a correction propagates to every page that quotes them in a single edit.

Common questions

Who writes this site?

CobraScout publishes this material as an organization rather than under individual bylines. Every page carries the date it was last checked against its sources, and every source is listed. We do not attribute pages to invented authors — a practice common in this industry and one we will not copy.

Do you use AI to write pages?

Yes, in part, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. Research, drafting and the county-level pages all involve software. What that software produces is constrained: every statistic comes from a named federal file rather than from a model's memory, the county pages are assembled from the Census and CMS public use files directly, and the whole site is run through automated checks before every build — for unsourced numbers, for contradictions between pages, for enrollment dates that disagree, and for the specific claims we are not allowed to make. A person reviews the templates and the source material. Nobody reads 825 pages line by line, and any publisher who tells you they do is describing an intention, not a process.

How often is content updated?

When a rule changes, when a data source publishes new figures, and at least annually. The review date on each page is the real date it was last checked.

Do you accept paid placements?

No. No insurance company pays to be mentioned, ranked or featured here.

How do I report an error?

Email hello@cobrascout.com, or mention it on the call. Our corrections policy explains what happens next.