How the numbers are checked

Where the figures come from

• CMS Plan Year 2027 Qualified Health Plan Landscape file: every marketplace plan filed in the HealthCare.gov states, with its premiums by age, metal level, plan type and county. This is the source of every county table and price on this site.
• CMS Machine-Readable Public Use Files: the provider-directory and plan files each insurer must publish. The hospital pages on Plans By City read these files directly and say what each file lists on a dated day.
• CMS Hospital General Information: hospital names, addresses and CMS certification numbers.
• KFF average benchmark premiums (the second-lowest-cost Silver plan for a 40-year-old), the one price published on the same basis for every state, including the six states that run their own marketplace.
• State insurance departments and insurers’ rate filings for the 2027 rate changes, with each state’s status (requested or final) shown next to the figure.
• HHS poverty guidelines, the IRS and CMS for the statutory numbers: the credit line, the affordability percentage, out-of-pocket and HSA limits. BLS and the Census Bureau for pay and population figures.

What a number on this site means

• Full price. Premiums are filed rates before any premium tax credit. The price after the credit depends on household income and size, which is why the same plan costs one person $40 and the next the full amount.
• Benchmark is not cheapest. The benchmark Silver is the second-lowest-cost Silver plan; the lowest-cost Silver and the cheapest Bronze are lower. Pages say which one they show.
• County, not state. Insurers price by rating area. A state figure is an average; the county page is the real one.
• An estimate is not a quote. Nothing on these pages is an offer of coverage. A real price comes from a licensed agent after the household’s details are known.
• A directory listing is a claim, not a promise. When a hospital page says an insurer’s file lists a hospital under N plans, that is what the insurer published on that date. Contracts change; the plan is confirmed with the insurer before anyone enrolls.

When pages change

New plan-year files are loaded the day CMS publishes them (the 2027 switch happened November 1, 2026). Every Monday an automated check reads the live sites, the forms and the sitemaps; the statutory figures are swapped on the dates the law changes them. A page shows the date its figures were checked where that matters. Older-year pages are labelled with their year.

What these sites do not do

• They do not quote, enrol or sell on the page. The ZIP box sends your details to a licensed agent, and that is all it does.
• They do not cover Medicare or Medicaid plan shopping; anyone 65 or older is told so on the form.
• They never link you to “buy direct” from an insurer, and no insurer pays for placement on any page.

Independence and pay

Health Advisory is the trade name of Daniel Griffin, a licensed independent insurance agent not tied to any single carrier. When a plan is issued, the insurer pays the agent; the premium is the same whether you use an agent or not, by federal rule (45 CFR 156.255(b)). The private-market plans an agent can place are described on their own pages with their limits stated.

Corrections

If a figure looks wrong, email the page address and the number to contact@coveragebycounty.com. It is checked against the source file within a day, and a corrected page carries the correction date. Pages are written and reviewed by Daniel Griffin; the byline on each guide says when it was published and last updated.