eHealth Opens Medicare's 2016 Annual Election Period With New and Improved Shopping Tools for Seniors

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/15/15 -- Today eHealth, Inc.(NASDAQ: EHTH), which operates Medicare.com and eHealthMedicare.com, two of the nation's leading online marketplaces for private Medicare health insurance products, enters the 2016 Annual Election Period (AEP) with a wealth of tools and services to help seniors find the Medicare coverage that's right for them.

Medicare's 2016 AEP begins October 15, 2015 and ends on December 7, 2015. During AEP, people eligible for Medicare can enroll in, or change their enrollment in, Medicare Advantage plans or Medicare Prescription Drug Plans. Changes made during this AEP become effective on January 1, 2016.

"eHealth is excited about Medicare's Annual Election Period for 2016 because we've dramatically improved our ability to help people on Medicare get the coverage that's right for them," said Bill Shaughnessy, President and Chief Operating Officer of eHealth. "We've improved our technology at every touch-point, we've got a skilled, veteran customer support team, and we've added new products from brand-name insurance companies. I believe eHealth has made it easier than ever for a person on Medicare to comparison shop for plans over the phone, online, or both."

eHealth's improved online shopping experience features

• Mobile-friendly shopping: Mobile visits to eHealthMedicare.com and Medicare.com increased by over 60 percent in the last 12 months compared to the preceding 12 months. For the 2016 AEP, both sites are now mobile-friendly, which means that people can easily shop for Medicare plans in their area from a smartphone, tablet, or laptop computer.
• A simplified prescription drug tool: eHealth has made it easier than ever for people to enter the prescription drugs they use and find the Medicare Advantage or Prescription Drug plan that covers their drugs at the lowest price. Exhaustive user testing has made it far easier to enter the name of a drug, especially on mobile and tablet devices.

Veteran customer support

• Exceptional agents: Over 93% of people who used eHealth to enroll in a Medicare plan during last year's AEP said they would recommend eHealth to a friend, according to an email survey of 973 eHealth customers conducted in 2015. eHealth's Customer Care Center is staffed by licensed agents with the breadth of knowledge and personal insight necessary to help seniors find the Medicare coverage that best matches their individual needs.
• Enhanced agent support: eHealth has improved the technology supporting its agents, making it possible to enroll faster and spend less time on the phone. Agents are now able to more quickly find plans that include a customer's preferred doctor, and they're able to more easily find plans that cover the customer's prescribed medications.

More products to choose from than ever before

• Our largest selection of plans ever: For the 2016 Annual Election Period, there will be thousands of plans to choose from on eHealthMedicare.com, from many of the nation's largest national and regional insurers.
  
• Plans from leading insurance companies: Name-brand insurance companies will offer Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare Prescription Drug plans, and Medicare Supplement plans to shoppers on a national scale through eHealth this AEP.

For more information about eHealth, the 2016 Medicare Annual Election Period, or Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans available to consumers, Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers are invited to visit eHealthMedicare today or contact one of the company's licensed representatives at 1-800-299-3116 (TTY User: 711), Monday-Friday, 8AM-10PM Eastern Time and Saturday-Sunday, 8AM-9PM Eastern Time.

eHealth
eHealth, Inc.(NASDAQ: EHTH) owns eHealth.com, the nation's first and largest private health insurance exchange where individuals, families and small businesses can compare health insurance products from leading insurers side by side and purchase and enroll in coverage online. eHealth offers thousands of individual, family and small business health plans underwritten by many of the nation's leading health insurance companies. eHealth (through its subsidiaries) is licensed to sell health insurance in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. eHealth also offers educational resources and powerful online and pharmacy-based tools to help Medicare beneficiaries navigate Medicare health insurance options, choose the right plan and enroll in select plans online through PlanPrescriber.com (www.PlanPrescriber.com), eHealthMedicare.com (www.eHealthMedicare.com) and Medicare.com (www.Medicare.com).

For more health insurance news and information, visit the eHealth consumer blog: Get Smart - Get Covered or visit eHealth's Consumer Resource Center.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding eHealth's relationships with insurance carriers; availability of Medicare products and support tools; availability of Medicare Advantage and Medicare prescription drug plans from particular carriers through eHealth; and the availability and efficacy of eHealth's Medicare product customer experience, including new or improved comparison tools and features (including those accessible on mobile or tablet devices) and agent availability, efficiency, and effectiveness. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, eHealth's ability to maintain its relationships with health insurance carriers; receipt of approval of eHealth's websites and platform from health insurance carriers and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); compliance with, and potential changes to, laws, regulations and rules relating to eHealth's sale of Medicare related insurance products; health insurance carrier compliance with laws, regulations and rules; eHealth's ability to maintain sufficient staffing; and other risks relating to availability of eHealth's websites, platform, customer support numbers and agents. Other risks and uncertainties that can affect actual results are included under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in eHealth's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 and most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which are on file with the SEC and are available on the investor relations page of eHealth's website at http://www.ehealthinsurance.com and on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and we undertake no duty to update this information unless required by law.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Sande Drew
DMA Communications for eHealth, Inc.
(916) 207-7674
sande.drew@ehealth.com

Nate Purpura
Vice President of Communications, eHealth, Inc.
(650) 210-3115
nate.purpura@ehealth.com

Source: eHealth, Inc.