Terms of Use

The short version

• PlanMax is a free, not-for-profit research tool that estimates what different health plans would have cost you.
• Estimates are informational only — they are not insurance, financial, medical, or legal advice.
• You may only connect coverage that belongs to you (or that you are authorized to manage).
• We handle your data as described in our Privacy Policy and the CARIN Code of Conduct.
• You can stop using PlanMax and disconnect your data at any time.

Who we are

PlanMax is an academic, not-for-profit research project studying health plan costs and health care decision-making, operated by Christian Wilson (Boston University). Questions about these terms: privacy@planmax.org.

What PlanMax does

With your authorization, PlanMax retrieves your claims and Explanation of Benefit records from your insurer through its Patient Access API and replays that history against the benefit design of the health plans available to you, to estimate what each plan would have cost you. PlanMax presents these estimates to help you compare plans.

Estimates are informational only

PlanMax's estimates are modeled projections based on your past claims and our reading of each plan's Summary of Benefits and Coverage. They are not a quote, a guarantee of coverage or cost, or a substitute for the official plan documents. Actual costs depend on your future care, your insurer's adjudication, plan changes, and other factors we cannot predict. PlanMax does not sell insurance, is not an insurer or broker, and does not provide medical, financial, tax, or legal advice. Confirm any decision against your official plan documents and, where appropriate, a qualified advisor before you rely on it.

Eligibility and your account

• You must be at least 18 years old to use PlanMax. PlanMax is not directed to children under 13.
• You may only connect health coverage that is yours, or that you are legally authorized to access on another person's behalf.
• You are responsible for the security of the insurer credentials you use to authorize access. You enter those credentials on your insurer's own website — PlanMax never sees or stores your insurer password.

Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Access data that is not yours or that you are not authorized to access;
• Attempt to disrupt, reverse engineer, overload, probe, or gain unauthorized access to PlanMax or its systems;
• Use PlanMax to violate any law or the terms of your insurer's Patient Access program;
• Use automated means to access PlanMax in a way that burdens the service.

Your data and privacy

Our collection, use, sharing, retention, and deletion of your information — including any de-identified data retained for research — is governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these terms. PlanMax adheres to the CARIN Code of Conduct for consumer-facing health applications. You may withdraw your consent and request deletion at any time, as described there.

Service availability

PlanMax is a research project offered "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, to the fullest extent permitted by law. We may change, suspend, or discontinue PlanMax, in whole or in part, at any time. Access to your insurer's data depends on that insurer's systems, which we do not control.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, PlanMax and its operators are not liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, or for any decision you make based on PlanMax's estimates. Nothing in these terms limits any liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.

Changes to these terms

If we make material changes to these terms, we will post the updated version here with a new effective date and, where required, ask you to affirm your consent before continuing to use PlanMax.

Contact

Questions or complaints about these terms or about PlanMax: privacy@planmax.org. We will respond as promptly as we reasonably can.