About this site
Sources and review
Where the facts on this site come from, how we show where, and what a check does and does not mean.
What counts as a source
Rules come from the law itself and from the agencies that run the programs: the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, the United States Code, Federal Register notices, and the pages of the Department of Labor, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare.gov, HealthCare.gov, state insurance departments, state Medicaid agencies and similar official bodies. Explainers from news organizations, advocacy groups and companies may point us to a primary source or show what people ask, but a rule is stated here only when an official source supports it.
What you will see on a page
- Sources. Guides, reasons, coverage types, letters and checklists list the official pages they rest on, with the date we checked them.
- The rule, quoted. Where a rule matters, the page shows it in a box with a link to the text.
- Statistics. Every figure is on the statistics page with its year, who it covers, its source and what it does not show.
- State pages. Each shows the date we read the state's official pages and lists the details we could not confirm.
- Programs and services. Each record shows the page we read, the date we read it, the date the provider printed (if any) and what we did and did not check.
Three different dates
A page can have a date the source was published, a date we checked it, and today. We keep them apart. A check confirms what an official page said on the day we read it. It does not confirm that a program has room for you, that a phone number still works, or that anyone is eligible.
When sources disagree
We use the stricter reading and say so. Example: one agency page says an urgent appeal decision can take four business days, while the regulation says 72 hours; we write 72 hours. Where we cannot tell which is right, we say we could not confirm it and tell you how to find out (your notice, your plan document, the regulator).
What we do not do
- We do not rank programs or take payment to list them.
- We do not state rules that no source supports. Where a topic is thin (for example medical debt and credit reporting), we describe practice and send you to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or legal aid.
- We have not had a licensed attorney or clinician review this content. Read the editorial policy.
Spot something wrong?
Report a mistake. Name the page and, if you can, link the official source that says otherwise.