Editorial policy

Health insurance content ages badly. Thresholds move every July, rebate percentages move every April, and premiums move whenever the Minister approves a rise. Most of what is wrong on the internet about private health insurance was correct when it was written. This policy exists to stop that happening here.

Every figure comes from a primary source

We do not take numbers from other comparison sites, press coverage or a fund's marketing pages. Thresholds, rates and rules come from the body that sets them; product detail comes from the fund's current Product Disclosure Statement. The sources we use most:

• PrivateHealth.gov.au
• ATO
• Department of Health
• APRA
• AIHW — public hospital waiting times

Every figure on a page is cited to the source it came from and stamped with the date we checked it. If we cannot source a number, it does not go on the page — we would rather leave a gap than fill it with an estimate.

Every page is dated and re-checked on a schedule

• Pages built on tax thresholds or rebate rates are re-checked every 30 days, and always within 48 hours of an ATO or Department of Health update.
• Fund reviews and comparison tables are re-checked quarterly, and whenever a fund changes its PDS or its premiums.
• Everything else is reviewed at least every six months.

The "updated" date on a page means a person re-checked the figures on that date. It does not mean we changed a word to refresh the timestamp. If nothing changed, the date still moves — because the check is the thing being recorded.

How a page gets written

1. Research. The writer collects the primary sources and the current figures before drafting.
2. Draft. The page answers the question in the first paragraph, then shows the working. We use drafting tools, including AI, to structure and tighten copy — but no page is published as a machine wrote it.
3. Fact-check. A second person re-derives every number against the cited source. Worked examples are recalculated by hand.
4. Sign-off. A named person is accountable for the page being right on the day it goes live, and for the next review.

Independence

• No health fund sees a page about it before publication, and no fund has any right of review or veto.
• No fund can pay for a rating, a ranking or a place in a table. How we are paid is set out in full in our terms of use.
• Writers are not paid on enquiry volume, clicks or conversions.
• Where we can earn a fee from a page, that is disclosed above the fold, before the first table or button.

When we get it wrong

We will. When it happens we fix the page, and we say so on it rather than quietly editing.

• A wrong figure is corrected as soon as it is confirmed, with a dated correction note on the page.
• A change in the underlying rules is an update, not a correction, and is marked as one.
• Every correction is listed on our corrections page, so you can see what we have got wrong and how often.

If you have found something wrong, email [email protected] with the page and the figure. Corrections from readers are logged the same way as the ones we catch ourselves. If you are unhappy with how we handled it, our complaints process sets out what happens next.

What this site is not

Plain Cover gives general information only. It does not take your income, health or circumstances into account, so it is not financial or health advice, and it is not a substitute for the fund's Product Disclosure Statement — that document, not this site, is what you are actually buying. Plain Cover is a website operated by Exolead Media Pty Ltd (ABN 34 669 875 281).