Can Obamacare Predict Pro Football Winners? -- eHealth Survey Finds Playoff Quarterbacks Are Favorites of Those Impacted by Law

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/03/14 -- The Affordable Care Act has the potential to insure millions of Americans, but can it predict the outcome of the professional football playoffs? This is the question a handful of people at eHealth (NASDAQ: EHTH) asked themselves after reviewing the results of a new email survey of 1,290 adults who bought their health insurance through eHealthInsurance.com, the nation's first and largest private health insurance exchange for individuals, families and small businesses.

The survey, which was conducted between August 8 and November 7 of 2013, asked eHealth customers to name their favorite professional sport and, the 398 fans of professional football were asked to name the pro quarterback they'd most like to see promoting and educating the public about the Affordable Care Act.

In the interest of giving people what they want, eHealth used the customer preferences from these survey results to predict the winners in each round of the professional football playoffs.

Wildcard Weekend Predictions
When eHealth filtered survey results to include only votes cast for quarterbacks facing off this weekend in the wildcard round of the playoffs, the chart below shows which of the eight signal-callers fans preferred.

Divisional Round Predictions
Assuming customer's preferences for spokespeople were accurate in predicting wildcard winners, eHealth once-again filtered survey results to include only those votes cast for quarterbacks who would be left to face off during the divisional round of the playoffs. The chart below shows which of the eight remaining signal-callers footballs fans preferred.

Conference Championship Predictions
If one presumes that customer preferences for spokespeople continued their improbable run of predicting winners in the divisional round of the playoffs, eHealth once-again filtered survey results to include only those votes cast for quarterbacks left to face off in the league's Conference Championship game. The chart below shows which of the four remaining QBs people buying their own health insurance most wanted to see.

Pro Football Championship Game
If the spokesperson preferences of eHealth customers continued their incredible run of accurately predicting winners, all the way into the league championship, the 2013 season would end with a rematch between Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.

Despite a heroic series of road victories for Brees's wildcard New Orleans team, Peyton Manning would emerge as the victor in this rematch of the 2009 championship game. People who buy their own health insurance would prefer Peyton Manning three-to-one over Drew Brees as a spokesperson to increase awareness and educate people about the Affordable Care Act - Obamacare. Manning was the top vote getter overall, earning nearly one-in-five (18%) of all votes cast.

Reality Check
This portion of the eHealth email survey may not have met with the most stringent of scientific standards for published research. When making their own predictions, eHealth encourages football fans, odds-makers, professional analysts and psychics to consider other sources of information in addition to these survey results. However, anyone who wins any type of wager -- gentlemen's agreement, shaved eyebrows, massive sums of cash -- is encouraged to give eHealth full credit for their victory.

Don't Fret
Readers who are disappointed that their team did not advance to the title game should be aware that survey results did not include an equal number of football fans in every state. For example; very few people in Wisconsin, Washington, Louisiana, Indiana and Missouri responded to the survey, which puts Aaron Rogers, Russell Wilson, Drew Brees, Andrew Luck and Alex Smith at a disadvantage.

eHealth encourages everyone to read and share the results of this non-scientific, survey. When you do, let your uninsured family, friends and uninsured fans of opposing teams know they can visit eHealth's Affordable Care Act Resource Center to learn more about the new law -- Peyton ManningWILL NOT be there.

Anyone can research health insurance options in their area at eHealthInsurance.com and eHealthInsurance.com has the nation's largest inventory of individual health insurance plans available for online enrollment.

Even without Peyton Manning, Drew Brees or Tom Brady, you can learn more about the Affordable Care Act by doing one of the following things:

• Visiting eHealth's Affordable Care Act Resource Center: www.eHealth.com/affordable-care-act
• Learn about Health Care Reform's Cost Free Enrollment Solution: www.costfreeenrollment.com
• Read eHealthInsurance's consumer blog, Get Smart - Get Covered (blog.eHealthInsurance.com)
• Browse eHealthInsurance's licensed agents answers to real-life health insurance questions on Yahoo Answers
• Follow eHealthInsurance on Facebook and Twitter

About eHealth
eHealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: EHTH) operates eHealthInsurance.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. eHealthInsurance offers thousands of individual, family and small business health plans underwritten by more than 180 of the nation's leading health insurance companies. eHealthInsurance is licensed to sell health insurance in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. eHealth, Inc. also provides 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) and eHealthMedicare.com (www.eHealthMedicare.com).

For more health insurance news and information, visit the eHealthInsurance consumer blog: Get Smart - Get Covered or visit eHealth's Affordable Care Act Resource Center at www.eHealth.com/affordable-care-act.

For media inquiries, please contact:

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

Nate Purpura
eHealth, Inc.
(650) 210-3115 - direct
Nate.Purpura@ehealth.com

Source: eHealth, Inc.