Privacy Policy
Last updated: June 2026
1. Information We Collect
CareCost Explorer is operated by CareCost, LLC, an Oregon limited liability company with principal offices in Portland, Oregon. When you create a CareCost Explorer account, we collect your email address and, if you purchase a license, your billing information (processed and stored by Stripe — we never store credit card numbers). When you use the application, we record account activity such as login timestamps and high-level usage events to operate the Service, enforce license terms, and improve reliability. The healthcare rate data you browse is public, derived from insurer-published files; your individual searches are used to serve results and are not sold or shared for advertising.
2. How We Use Information
We use the information we collect to: (a) provide, maintain, and improve the Service; (b) process your license purchase and manage access; (c) authenticate you and secure your account; (d) communicate with you about your account, including service updates and security notices; (e) detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents; and (f) comply with legal obligations. We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your activity for cross-site advertising or behavioral targeting.
3. No Patient Data / HIPAA
CareCost Explorer is a data-intelligence product built on publicly available healthcare pricing data. All rate data we serve is derived from Machine-Readable Files published by insurers under the federal Transparency in Coverage Rule. This data does not contain patient-identifiable information. We do not collect, process, store, or transmit Protected Health Information (PHI) as defined under HIPAA. CareCost Explorer is not a HIPAA-covered entity or business associate, and using the Service does not create a business associate relationship.
4. Data Retention
We retain your account information for as long as your account is active. Operational usage logs are retained for a limited period for reliability, security, and billing purposes, after which they are aggregated or deleted. If you close your account, we will remove your personal information within a reasonable period, except where retention is required by law or for legitimate business purposes such as fraud prevention or resolving disputes.
5. Third-Party Services
We rely on a small set of vendors to operate the Service: Supabase (authentication and database hosting), Stripe (payment processing), and our hosting/CDN provider. Each processes data on our behalf under its own privacy and security commitments. We do not share your information with third parties for their own marketing purposes.
6. Your Rights
You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information at any time by emailing hello@carecostexplorer.com. You may close your account at any time. Upon closure, we delete your personal information in accordance with our retention policy. If you are located in the European Economic Area or a U.S. state with comprehensive privacy legislation, you may have additional rights, including data portability and the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.
7. Cookies
We use only the cookies required for authentication and session management. We do not use advertising cookies or third-party tracking pixels that follow you across other websites. You may disable cookies in your browser, though doing so may prevent you from logging in to the Service.
8. Security
We implement industry-standard safeguards to protect your information, including encryption in transit (TLS), authentication managed through Supabase, payment handling delegated to Stripe, and least-privilege access controls on our infrastructure. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. See our Security page for more detail, and report any concern to hello@carecostexplorer.com.
9. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you at the email associated with your account. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.
10. Contact
Questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices? Contact us at hello@carecostexplorer.com.