Independence Holding Company Announces Further Expansion of Technology-Driven Direct-to-Consumer Solutions
June 17 2019 - 5:19PM
Independence Holding Company (NYSE: IHC) today announced an
investment in a lead generation company and the acquisition of a
leading domain for the generation of health insurance leads.
David Kettig, President of IHC, commented, “IHC Specialty
Benefits, a significant standalone insurance agency with a growing
block of over $180 million of premiums, continues to
expand to serve the increasing demand for Direct to Consumer (D2C)
products. Our agency is unique in that it markets both health
insurance options to all age groups and pet insurance, and does so
both through an on-line transactional exchange and through call
center employees and career agents (i.e. independent agents selling
products exclusively on our platforms).
As a result of the aforementioned investments, we have executed
on our previously announced goals of: (i) investing in a digital
marketing agency that will drive exclusive lead traffic in the
under and over age 65 health insurance space as well as for pet
insurance, (ii) partnering with leading search marketing firms to
drive exclusive lead traffic, and (iii) acquiring additional web
domains and employing enhanced search engine optimization (SEO)
expertise to maximize lead traffic through currently owned web
domains. These capabilities augment our network of outside lead
generators and affinity groups, including servicing USAA members
seeking health insurance and American Kennel Club (AKC) registrants
seeking pet insurance. Purchasing third-party leads is not optimal
from either a cost or quality perspective, and for this reason we
have shifted our focus to the production of “in-house” lead
traffic. This significant effort will result in a reduction to the
overall cost of lead generation, while improving quality and
guaranteeing a consistent supply of in-house leads. This
would facilitate further expansion of our call centers and career
agents, which are highly scalable, and in turn would generate
significantly greater increases in premium production.
We continue to make progress on: (i) improving our sales and
enrollment platforms, which has made it possible to sell products
for other insurance companies, (ii) expanding our career agency
through deployment of a new management team and recruitment of new
agents, (iii) integrating and expanding the sales and customer
service center we recently acquired, and (iv) entering the senior
market by deploying Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement and
ancillary products designed for those over age 65 in time for the
Medicare Annual Enrollment Period (AEP).
We believe that IHC is well situated, through its vertically
integrated structure, to better serve the growing demand for D2C
health insurance options by delivering an end-to-end experience to
the consumer, including a broad base of products across the entire
spectrum of age groups and needs. We provide state-of-the-art
on-line and mobile tools linking individuals and families in need
of insurance coverage (whether they are retired, self-employed or
work for a small employer group that does not offer employee
benefits or they are seeking to protect against veterinary
expenses) to highly rated insurance companies. Our enterprise
now includes: (i) digital marketing and website domains that will
drive exclusive lead traffic for ancillary health and pet
insurance, (ii) exchanges that will permit individuals to perform
side-by-side comparisons of various employee benefit and pet
insurance coverages, (iii) sales and customer service centers with
licensed employee agents available to respond to consumer
questions, (iv) a wholly owned insurance company, licensed in all
50 states, which we believe has the broadest mix of ancillary
health and pet insurance in the country, and (v) access to other
highly rated insurers for life, senior and P&C products.
We are optimistic that our prospects will be further enhanced by
the recent issuance of a final regulation by the U.S. Departments
of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury that will
expand the use of excepted benefit health reimbursement accounts
(HRAs) to purchase short-term medical in certain situations.
The Departments stated that they believe this will provide hundreds
of thousands of employers, including small businesses, and millions
of American workers more options for health insurance
coverage.”
About The IHC Group
Independence Holding Company (NYSE: IHC), formed in
1980, is a holding company that is principally engaged in
underwriting, administering and/or distributing group and
individual specialty benefit products, including disability,
supplemental health, pet, and group life insurance through its
subsidiaries (Independence Holding Company and its
subsidiaries collectively referred to as “The IHC
Group”). The IHC Group consists of three insurance
companies (Standard Security Life Insurance Company of New
York, Madison National Life Insurance Company,
Inc. and Independence American Insurance Company),
and IHC Specialty Benefits, Inc., a technology-driven
full-service marketing and distribution company that focuses on
small employer and individual consumer products through general
agents, telebrokerage, call centers, private label arrangements,
and through the following
brands: www.HealtheDeals.com, www.medicareresources.org,
www.dentalinsurance.com,
www.PetPartners.com, www.PetPlace.com, www.my1hr.com and
Healthedeals Advisors.
Forward-looking Statements
Certain statements and information contained in this release may
be considered “forward-looking statements,” such as statements
relating to management's views with respect to future events and
financial performance. Such forward-looking statements are
subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from historical experience or
from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but
are not limited to, economic conditions in the markets in which IHC
operates, new federal or state governmental regulation, IHC’s
ability to effectively operate, integrate and leverage any past or
future strategic acquisition, and other factors which can be found
in IHC’s other news releases and filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. IHC expressly disclaims any duty to
update its forward-looking statements unless required by applicable
law.
CONTACT: Loan Nisser (646)
509-2107 www.IHCGroup.com
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