eHealth Announces the First Phase of Electronic Processing Interchange III

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- eHealth, Inc. , parent company of eHealthInsurance, the nation's leading online source of health insurance for individuals, families and small businesses, announced today the next generation of the Electronic Processing Interchange (EPI). EPI III will enable individual consumers in five states to receive an expedited response to their electronically submitted health insurance applications.

Humana Inc. , one of the nation's largest health benefits companies, is the first insurer to participate in EPI III. Humana will use EPI III to speed the processing of applications for its HumanaOne line of individual health insurance plans.

eHealth, an innovator in streamlining the traditionally complex and paper- intensive health insurance sales process, continues to build on its technology leadership with the launch of the third phase of eHealth's proprietary electronic processing interchange technology, known as EPI III. Individuals in Texas, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina and South Carolina shopping for health insurance online can now receive a response to their health insurance application within one business day by choosing a Humana application.

"The electronic processing interchange technology we developed offers consumers a seamless application process and the opportunity to obtain coverage more accurately and rapidly," said Gary Lauer, Chief Executive Officer of eHealth, Inc. "Currently applications can be completed, signed and submitted to the consumers' chosen carrier online. EPI III now provides consumers with a much faster response from the carrier, reducing turn-around time to a few hours. We're enthusiastic about this innovation and believe that EPI III delivers a competitive advantage for those carriers who participate," continued Lauer.

"Humana is committed to empowering individuals with the tools and information required to make smart and efficient choices for their health insurance needs," said Steven DeRaleau, chief operating officer of HumanaOne. "Partnering with eHealth on EPI III to ensure consumers can have more rapid access to health insurance is an example of that commitment."

The EPI technology that eHealth invented in 2001 enables individuals to complete the entire health insurance purchasing process online. While the traditional paper-intensive non-EPI application process requires approximately 43 days on average from submission to approval, the EPI application process requires approximately 17 days. EPI has been widely adopted by the more than 160 health insurance carriers that eHealth represents. The next generation of this technology, EPI III, will reduce the approval process to as little as one business day and takes consumers one step closer to eHealth's ultimate goal of providing instant membership.

About eHealth, Inc.

eHealth, Inc. is the parent company of eHealthInsurance, the nation's leading online source of health insurance for individuals, families and small businesses. Through the company's website, http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/, consumers can get quotes from leading health insurance carriers, compare plans side-by-side, apply for and purchase health insurance. eHealthInsurance offers more than 7,000 health plans underwritten by more than 160 of the nation's leading health insurance companies. eHealthInsurance sells health insurance in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. eHealthInsurance and eHealth are registered trademarks of eHealthInsurance Services, Inc.

About Humana

Humana Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the nation's largest publicly traded health benefits companies, with approximately 11.3 million medical members. Humana offers a diversified portfolio of health insurance products and related services -- through traditional and consumer-choice plans -- to employer groups, government-sponsored plans, and individuals.

Over its 46-year history, Humana has consistently seized opportunities to meet changing customer needs. Today, the company is a leader in consumer engagement, providing guidance that leads to lower costs and a better health plan experience throughout its diversified customer portfolio.

More information regarding Humana is available to investors via the Investor Relations page of the company's Web site at http://www.humana.com/ .

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined within the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include statements regarding Humana's use of EPI III to speed processing of applications, EPI III enabling expedited responses to electronically submitted health insurance applications, eHealth continuing to build on its technology leadership, EPI III delivering a competitive advantage for carriers who participate and EPI III reducing the approval process to as little as one business day. These forward-looking statements are inherently subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made, including risks associated with adoption of EPI III technology, system failures, malfunctions, bugs or capacity constraints, the performance, reliability and availability of eHealth's ecommerce platform and underlying network infrastructure, ecommerce security risks, insurance carrier resource allocation and ability to provide expedited responses to insurance applications, carrier system failure or process breakdown, compliance with insurance and other laws and regulations and changes in laws and regulations. Other factors that could cause results to differ are described in eHealth's most recent periodic report as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and 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 http://www.sec.gov/. eHealth does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in expectations.