Ehealth (EHTH) Risk Analysis

Our omnichannel consumer engagement platform enables customers to discover, compare and purchase a health insurance plan using our proprietary online search engine as well as receive assistance of a licensed insurance agent, or benefit advisor, by telephone, online chat or through a hybrid online assisted interaction such as co-browsing. Our advisor enrollment center operations are critical to our success and dependent on our ability to recruit, hire, train and effectively manage our licensed benefit advisors and other employees. To sell Medicare-related health insurance products, our benefit advisors must be licensed by the states in which they are selling plans and certified and appointed with the health insurance carrier that offers the plans in each applicable state. We depend upon our employees, state departments of insurance, government exchanges and health insurance carriers for the licensing, certification and appointment of our benefit advisors. We may experience difficulties hiring and retaining a sufficient number of benefit advisors and support staff during the year and especially for the Medicare annual enrollment period. Even if we are successful in hiring and retaining licensed benefit advisors and support staff, our success depends on the productivity of these individuals that operate our advisor enrollment centers. Failure to retain, train and ensure the productivity of our benefit advisors and other employees could result in lower-than-expected sold plans, conversion rates and revenue, higher costs of acquisition per member and higher plan termination rates, any of which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition. If our benefit advisors do not perform to the standards we expect of them or if we do not generate sufficient call volumes for our benefit advisors to remain productive, our sold plan volume, conversion and retention rates could be negatively impacted, and our business, operating results and financial condition would be harmed. If investments we make in our advisor enrollment center operations do not result in the returns we expected when making those investments, we could acquire fewer members, suffer a reduction in our membership, and our business, operating results and financial condition could be harmed. Given that our business is seasonal in nature, if we are not successful in hiring, training and retaining qualified benefit advisors and support staff, our benefit advisors do not perform to high standards or our investments in our advisor enrollment center operations do not result in expected returns, among other factors discussed in this risk factor, our ability to sell Medicare-related health insurance plans will be impaired during the Medicare annual enrollment period, which would harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

In order to offer the qualified health plans that individuals and families must purchase to receive Affordable Care Act subsidies, we must meet certain conditions, such as receiving permission to do so from the applicable government health insurance exchange, entering into or maintaining an agreement with the health insurance exchange or a partner of the exchange, ensuring that the enrollment and subsidy application is completed through the health insurance exchange and complying with privacy, security and other standards. In the event Internet-based agents and brokers such as us use the Internet for completion of qualified health plan selection purposes, their websites may be required to meet certain additional requirements. To help manage additional expenses and regulatory burdens associated with enrolling individuals and families into qualified health plans, we rely on a third-party vendor to help comply certain aspects of the relevant requirements, and our qualified plan enrollments are made predominantly through the Federally Facilitated Marketplace ("FFM"), which currently runs all or part of the health insurance exchange in 32 states. We may experience difficulty in satisfying the conditions and requirements to offer qualified health plans to our existing members and new potential members and in getting them enrolled through the FFM or any similar state-based exchange. The FFM may at any time cease allowing us or our third-party vendor to enroll individuals in qualified health plans or change the requirements for doing so, or relevant government regulations or agencies may prevent us from efficiently working with our third-party vendor, including timely receiving and using data from our third-party vendor. In addition, we may be unsuccessful in maintaining a relationship with our third-party vendor who is approved to use the process, and we may not be able to enroll individuals into qualified health plans through the FFM or could be required to use an inferior process to do so. The number of states using the FFM may also decrease in the future, reducing our ability to enroll members through the FFM. In addition, if we are not able to maintain solutions to integrate with government-run health insurance exchanges or if the health insurance exchange websites and other processes are unstable or not consumer friendly, efficient and compatible with the process we have adopted for enrolling individuals and families into qualified health plans through the exchanges, we would not be successful in retaining and acquiring members, and our business, operating results and financial condition would be harmed. Similarly for states that use state-based exchanges instead of the FFM, we may not be able to establish or maintain stable, consumer friendly, efficient or compatible legal arrangements or technical processes to enroll members in qualified health plans through such state-based exchanges, either directly with the governmental entities running such state-based exchanges or through appropriate third parties that allow us to access such state-based exchanges. If we are not able to satisfy these conditions and requirements, or if we are not able to successfully adopt and maintain solutions in a timely, efficient and cost-effective manner to respond to changing circumstances to allow us to continue to effectively enroll large numbers of members through the FFM and state-based exchanges, we could lose existing members and fail to attract new members and may incur additional expense, which would harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

The marketing and sale of health insurance plans, including Medicare plans, are subject to numerous laws, regulations and guidelines at the federal and state level. Compliance with these evolving laws and regulations may involve significant costs, cause significant delays in our ability to go to market with new marketing and product initiatives and strategies or require changes in our business practices, which could have an adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. Non-compliance could also result in fines, damages, prohibitions on the conduct of our business, and damage to our reputation. In particular, the marketing and sale of Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans are principally regulated by CMS but are also subject to state laws. The marketing and sale of Medicare Supplement plans are principally regulated on a state-by-state basis by state departments of insurance. The laws and regulations applicable to the marketing and sale of Medicare plans are numerous, ambiguous and complex, and, particularly with respect to regulations and guidance issued by CMS for Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, change frequently. We have altered, and likely will have to continue to alter, our marketing and sales process to comply with these laws, regulations and guidelines. Health insurance carriers whose Medicare plans we sell approve our websites, our advisor enrollment center call scripts and a large portion of our marketing materials. We must receive these approvals in order for us to market and sell Medicare plans to Medicare-eligible individuals as an insurance agent. We are also required to file many of these materials on a regular basis with CMS. In addition, certain aspects of our Medicare plan marketing partner relationships have been in the past, and will be in the future, subjected to CMS and health insurance carrier review. CMS, state departments of insurance or health insurance carriers may decide to object to or not to approve aspects of our online platforms, sales function or marketing material and processes and may determine that certain existing aspects of our Medicare-related business are not in compliance with legal requirements. CMS scrutinizes health insurance carriers whose Medicare plans we sell, and those health insurance carriers may be held responsible for actions that we, our agents and our partners take, including our marketing materials and actions that lead to complaints or disenrollment. We expect that health insurance carriers will be increasingly evaluating broker performance based on quality of their enrollments, including complaints, retention rates, customer satisfaction and volumes. As a result, health insurance carriers may terminate their relationship with us or require us to take other corrective action if our Medicare product sales, marketing and operations are not in compliance or give rise to too many complaints. The termination of or change in our relationship with health insurance carriers for this reason could reduce the products we are able to offer, could result in the loss of commissions for past and future sales and could otherwise harm our business, operating results and financial condition. Changes to the laws, regulations and guidelines relating to the sale of health insurance plans and related products and services, their interpretation or the manner in which they are enforced could impact the manner in which we conduct our business, our ecommerce platforms or our sale of Medicare plans and other products, or we could be prevented from operating certain aspects of our revenue-generating activities altogether, which would harm our business, operating results and financial condition. We have received, and may in the future receive, inquiries from CMS or state departments of insurance regarding our marketing and business practices and compliance with laws and regulations. Inquiries and proceedings initiated by the government could adversely impact our health insurance licenses, require us to pay fines, require us to modify marketing and business practices, result in litigation and otherwise harm our business, operating results and financial condition. In April 2023, CMS released final versions of the rules initially proposed in December 2022. The finalized rules, among other things, require us and our partners to provide to consumers additional disclaimers that may direct them away from our enrollment platform and towards government owned or operated enrollment channels or other platforms, add complications to the Medicare marketing material filing and review process, increase CMS and insurance carrier monitoring of third party marketing organizations ("TPMOs") such as us, add requirements on agents enrolling beneficiaries in Medicare plans, limit marketing of plan benefits and cost savings, require lengthy new disclosures that make certain forms of marketing infeasible, potentially require a 48-hour waiting period between initial contact with a beneficiary and enrolling that beneficiary in certain circumstances, and limit the time we may contact beneficiaries about Medicare plan options to six months after the beneficiary gives us permission for such contact. These additional requirements could impede or otherwise harm our business, operating results and financial condition. There may be further potential impact on the business upon the release of any new guidance and sub-regulatory guidance. In December 2023, CMS released Proposed Rules ("Proposed Rules") slated for finalization for calendar year 2025 focused on curtailing the broker compensation amounts paid to agents and brokers as well as to limit the permissible services and additional payments received for administrative services. - Limitation on Contract Terms. If enacted as proposed, the Proposed Rules would prohibit the following: renewal of contracts between brokers and carriers contingent on higher rates of enrollment; payment by carriers to brokers for marketing activities contingent upon meeting specified enrollment quotas; bonus payments based on enrollment volume; and enrolling beneficiaries into specific plans "for a reason other than what best meets their health care needs."- Cap on Compensation Rates. The Proposed Rules would classify all carrier payments as "enrollment-based compensation" (commonly called commissions), including payments for administrative activities previously excluded from the CMS-determined commission amount (currently, $601 in most states). - Administrative Payments. The Proposed Rules would suggest a $31 increase in payment under the compensation rate beginning in 2025 to cover the fair market value of licensing, training and testing requirements, as well as recording and retention requirements. This $31 would replace current administrative fees, which are currently not defined by a dollar amount by CMS but are limited to the fair value of the services provided in the market. These additional requirements, if enacted as proposed, could impede or otherwise harm our business, operating results and financial condition. There may be further potential impact on the business upon the release of any new guidance and sub-regulatory guidance. Also in December 2023, the FCC released a new ruling, likely to become effective around March 2025. The new rules require "one-to-one" consent under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"), allow blocking of "red flagged" robotexting numbers, codify do-not-call rules for texting, and encourage an opt-in approach for delivering email-to-text messages. These additional requirements may impact the viability of partnerships that we use for marketing efforts and could impede or otherwise harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

We are, and may in the future become, involved in various legal proceedings and governmental inquiries, including labor and employment-related claims, claims relating to our marketing or sale of health insurance,intellectual property claims and claims relating to our compliance with securities laws. For example, in January 2022, we received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts, seeking, among other things, information regarding our arrangements with insurance carriers, and we may receive similar inquiries in the future. Such inquiries and any other claims asserted against us, with or without merit, may be time-consuming, may be expensive to address and may divert management's attention and other resources. These claims also could subject us to significant liability for damages, jeopardize our licenses to operate and harm our reputation. Our insurance and indemnities may not cover all claims that may be asserted against us. If we are unsuccessful in our defense in these legal proceedings, we may be forced to pay damages or fines, enter into consent decrees, stop offering our services or change our business practices, any of which would harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our provision for income taxes is subject to volatility and could be adversely affected by earnings differing materially from our projections, changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, tax effects of stock-based compensation, or adverse outcomes as a result of tax examinations or by changes in tax laws, regulations, accounting principles, including accounting for uncertain tax positions, or interpretations thereof. To the extent that our provision for income taxes is subject to volatility or adverse outcomes as a result of tax examinations, our operating results could be harmed. Significant judgment is required to determine the recognition and measurement attribute prescribed in U.S. generally accepted accounting principles relating to accounting for income taxes. In addition, we are subject to examinations of our income tax returns by the Internal Revenue Service and other tax authorities. We assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes. There may be exposure that the outcomes from these examinations will have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

We use email and telephone, among other channels, to market our services to potential members and as the primary means of communicating with our existing members. The laws and regulations governing the use of email and telephone calls for marketing purposes continue to evolve, and changes in technology, the marketplace or consumer preferences may lead to the adoption of additional laws or regulations or changes in interpretation of existing laws or regulations. If new laws or regulations are adopted, or existing laws and regulations are interpreted or enforced, to impose additional restrictions on our ability to send email or telephone messages to our members or potential members, we may not be able to communicate with them in a cost-effective manner. For example, we use telephones to communicate with customers and prospective customers, and some of these communications may be subject to the TCPA and other telemarketing laws, including state laws, that restrict our ability to market using the telephone in certain respects. The TCPA prohibits us from using an automatic telephone dialing system or prerecorded or artificial voices to make certain telephone calls to consumers without prior express written consent and provides for statutory damages of $500 for each violation and $1,500 for each willful violation. While we have policies in place to comply with the TCPA and other telemarketing laws, we have been in the past, and may in the future become, subject to claims that we have violated the TCPA. In the event that we were found to have violated the TCPA, our business, operating results and financial condition could be harmed. The TCPA and other laws and regulations relating to telemarketing are also subject to periodic updates and changes in enforcement and litigation risks. In addition to legal restrictions on the use of email, Internet service providers, email service providers and others attempt to block the transmission of unsolicited email, commonly known as "spam." Many Internet and email service providers have relationships with organizations whose purpose is to detect and notify the Internet and email service providers of entities that the organization believes is sending unsolicited email.?If an Internet or email service provider identifies email from us as "spam" as a result of reports from these organizations or otherwise, we can be placed on a restricted list that will block our email to members or potential members. Similarly, telephone carriers may block or put consumer warnings on calls originating from call centers. Consumers increasingly screen their incoming emails and telephone calls, including by using screening tools and warnings, and therefore our members or potential members may not reliably receive our emails or telephone messages, whether or not such messages constitute marketing. If we are unable to communicate effectively by email or telephone with our members and potential members as a result of legislation, legal or regulatory actions, blockage, screening technologies or otherwise, our business, operating results and financial condition would be harmed.