Editorial & Corrections Policy

PlainMedicare turns the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' published Medicare Advantage data — Star Ratings, plan benefit packages, and county penetration files — into readable plan, county, state, and insurer pages. This page explains how those pages are produced, the standards we hold them to, and exactly how to flag a number that looks wrong.

How pages are produced

PlainMedicare's plan, county, state, and insurer pages are generated from published CMS datasets: the Medicare Advantage and Part D Star Ratings files, the Plan Benefit Package (PBP) supplemental-benefit data, and the Medicare Advantage / Part D contract and penetration reports. We download each source directly from CMS, load it into a structured database, and render every page from that database. The figures you see — star ratings, drug-plan ratings, plan types, supplemental dental/vision/hearing benefit maximums, county and insurer counts — are read from CMS's published numbers, not hand-typed and not estimated by us.

This is a data-publishing model: the same template renders thousands of pages so that every plan, county, and insurer is covered consistently. We are transparent that these data pages are produced programmatically from the source datasets rather than written individually. The editorial work goes into the pipeline — how data is sourced, normalized, joined, and computed — into the methodology, and into the written guides; not into hand-authoring thousands of near-identical plan pages, which would add no accuracy and invite inconsistency.

Sourcing standards

  • Primary sources only. Quality and benefit figures come from CMS's published files — the Medicare Advantage / Part D Star Ratings dataset, the Plan Benefit Package supplemental-benefit data, and the MA contract/enrollment and penetration reports — as documented in our methodology.
  • Attribution in context. Each data page names CMS as the source and the 2026 plan year near the figures, and links to the methodology that explains how CMS calculates the Star Rating across more than 40 quality measures.
  • Derived values are labeled. Numbers we compute ourselves — the national rating distribution, county-level 4★+ counts, and "average rating" figures — are presented as our analysis of CMS data, distinct from CMS's published per-plan ratings.
  • Premiums from the Landscape file. Monthly plan premiums (Part C + D), Part D deductibles, and maximum out-of-pocket figures come from the CMS CY2026 Landscape Source File. Premiums can vary by county and change yearly, so we always link to the official Medicare.gov Plan Compare tool to confirm current costs.

Update cadence

CMS publishes the Star Ratings once per plan year, in the fall before the plan year begins; the 2026 ratings were released in fall 2025 and apply during the 2026 plan year. Plan benefit packages and the contract/penetration files follow the same annual cycle. When CMS releases new annual data we refresh our database and recompute derived metrics, typically within about two weeks. Between releases the figures are stable because the source itself does not change. The plan year is shown on every data page.

Corrections process

If a figure on PlainMedicare looks wrong, please tell us. Because our pages are generated from CMS's datasets, a genuine error almost always traces back to either the source data or our processing of it — so this is how we handle a report:

  1. Report. Email corrections@plainmedicare.com or use the contact page with the page URL and the number that looks off.
  2. Verify. We compare the figure against CMS's published documentation for that plan, area, and plan year.
  3. Fix at the source. If the value is wrong on our side, we correct it in the database and pipeline that generate the page — not just on the single page — so every affected page is fixed at once. If the figure faithfully reflects CMS's published data, we explain that and, where useful, add context.
  4. Note it. Material corrections that change a published figure are reflected the next time the page rebuilds, with the plan year shown so you can see which CMS release a page is based on.

We aim to acknowledge data-error reports within a few business days.

Editorial independence

PlainMedicare is an independent publisher and is not affiliated with Medicare, CMS, or any insurer. We do not accept payment, sponsorship, or promoted placement from any insurance company, agent, broker, or lead-generation service, and we run no lead-generation forms. Our only revenue is contextual display advertising served by Google AdSense; advertisers do not influence which plans or insurers we cover or how we present their data. Our rankings are computed mechanically from CMS figures, so no insurer can pay to move up a list.

Appropriate use

PlainMedicare is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, insurance, or financial advice. CMS Star Ratings measure quality, not price, and reflect prior-year performance; a plan's rating, benefits, network, and cost can change each year. Eligibility, enrollment periods, and coverage depend on current federal rules and your personal situation. For decisions about a Medicare plan, confirm current details on Medicare.gov or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE, and consider speaking with a licensed Medicare counselor or your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). See our full appropriate-use disclaimer.