Marketplace health insurance ratings methodology
NerdWallet evaluates marketplace health insurance plans based on marketplace data about plans’ premiums, out-of-pocket costs and benefits, prescription drug coverage, dental coverage, government quality rating data, complaint data, records about how plans approve and deny claims and more.
We evaluate individual plans and then aggregate scores to the company level. When a plan is missing data for a certain metric, we exclude it from calculations. For example, the federal government calculates official star ratings for marketplace health insurance plans, but many plans are unrated, and others have incomplete ratings. NerdWallet’s analysis incorporates government quality ratings when they’re available, but doesn’t penalize plans that are unrated.
These ratings are a guide, but we encourage you to shop around and compare several insurance quotes to find the best coverage and rate for you. NerdWallet does not receive compensation for any reviews. Read our editorial guidelines for more information.
Insurer complaints methodology
We examined complaints received by state insurance regulators and reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. To assess how insurers compare to one another, the NAIC calculates a complaint index each year for each subsidiary, measuring its share of total complaints relative to its size, or share of total premiums in the industry.
To evaluate a company’s complaint history, we calculated a similar index for each insurance company, weighted by market shares of each subsidiary. We score companies based on this index of how many complaints the company receives relative to its market share.
NerdWallet conducts its data analysis and reaches conclusions independently and without the endorsement of the NAIC.
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