How we check
Every number has a page number
- 1
Get the document
We download the insurer's own policy document (a sample or state policy) from the insurer's website or its underwriter, and record the date and a fingerprint (SHA-256) of the file. If an insurer blocks downloads or only offers an old form, we leave it out instead of guessing.
- 2
Quote, don't paraphrase
Each fact is stored with the exact words from the document and the page they are on. A script checks that the quote really appears in the file. If it does not, the site will not build.
- 3
Policy beats marketing
When a document states something, that is the value we show. When only the insurer's website states it (for example limit menus, which policies leave to the declarations page), we label it as coming from the website.
- 4
Show disagreements
When the website and the policy say different things, we mark it as a conflict and show both quotes side by side.
- 5
A person checks it
No fact is published until a person has checked it against the document. Medical statements will be reviewed by a licensed veterinarian, named on the pages they review.
- 6
Date everything
Policies change. Every page shows when the documents were retrieved. When a document changes, we update the fact and note the change.
How we score insurers
Every insurer gets a score from 5.0 to 10.0. It combines three things, with fixed weights that are the same for every company:
| Part | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage terms | 50% | How soon accidents and illness are covered, the knee and hip rule, whether a cured condition can be covered later and how soon, dental cover, and enrollment age. Each is read from the insurer's policy and scored the same way for everyone. |
| Customer satisfaction | 30% | The insurer's average rating on public customer review platforms. |
| Popularity | 20% | The share of readers who click through to each insurer from our site over the last 90 days (click share). Until we have enough clicks to measure, we use the number of customer reviews an insurer has as a stand-in for how widely it is used. |
Score = 5 + 5 × (0.5 × coverage + 0.3 × satisfaction + 0.2 × popularity), where each part is between 0 and 1. 9.0 and up is Excellent, 8.5 Very good, 8.0 Good. We update scores when a policy, a rating or the click data changes. No insurer can pay for a score, and when we earn referral fees they never change one.
We never rank insurers by how much they pay us. Found a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it and note the correction.