TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 02, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Health Insurance Innovations, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIIQ), a leading cloud-based technology platform and distributor of affordable individual and family health insurance and supplemental plans, today announced the termination of its relationship with Health Benefits One, LLC (“Simple Health”).
On November 1, 2018, Health Insurance Innovations, Inc. (“HIIQ”) was made aware of an action brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Simple Health. Simple Health is an independent, third-party licensed insurance distributor that marketed and sold products offered by various insurance carriers, including insurance carriers who sell products through HIIQ’s platform. Upon receiving notice of the FTC’s action, HIIQ immediately suspended its relationship with Simple Health and contacted the FTC to offer its support and assistance in the FTC’s investigation.
HIIQ maintains an active internal compliance team and works closely with state insurance agencies. The company has relationships with over 100 independent insurance sales agencies, many of whom sell products for many different carriers, and HIIQ closely monitors all sales of HIIQ products by each agency. For 2018 to date, Simple Health was the agency of record for less than 10% of HIIQ’s submitted policies.
HIIQ does not expect a negative financial impact relative to the company’s recently issued guidance from the termination of its relationship with Simple Health and remains optimistic about our fourth quarter.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements other than historical fact, and may include statements relating to goals, plans and projections regarding new markets, products, services, growth strategies, anticipated trends in our business and anticipated changes and developments in the United States health insurance system and laws. Forward-looking statements are based on HIIQ’s current assumptions, expectations and beliefs are generally identifiable by use of words “may,” “might,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue,” or similar expressions and involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, our ability to maintain relationships and develop new relationships with health insurance carriers and distributors, our ability to retain our members, the demand for products offered through our platform, state regulatory oversight and examinations of us and our carriers and distributors, legal and regulatory compliance by our carriers and distributors, the amount of commissions paid to us or changes in health insurance plan pricing practices, competition, changes and developments in the United States health insurance system and laws, and HIIQ’s ability to adapt to them, the ability to maintain and enhance our name recognition, difficulties arising from acquisitions or other strategic transactions, and our ability to build the necessary infrastructure and processes to maintain effective controls over financial reporting. These and other risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements will be discussed in HIIQ’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as other documents that may be filed by HIIQ from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. You should not rely on any forward-looking statement as representing our views in the future. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.
Contacts:
Health Insurance Innovations, Inc.:
Michael Hershberger
Chief Financial Officer
(813) 397-1187 – mhershberger@hiiq.com
Investor Contact:
John Evans
PIR Communications
(415) 309-0230 – IR@hiiquote.com