HealthMarkets

HealthMarkets

Type	Private
Industry	Insurance
Founded	1984
Headquarters	North Richland Hills, Texas, USA
Key people	Allen F. Wise (Chairman), Phillip J. Hildebrand (CEO)
Revenue	$2.147 Billion USD (2006)
Net income	$238 Million USD (2006)
Website	www.healthmarkets.com

HealthMarkets, Inc is a company, formerly known as UICI and headquartered in North Richland Hills, Texas, that provides health and life insurance products to individuals, families, the self-employed and small businesses.

HealthMarkets offers products and services through its subsidiaries, The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company, Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee, The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company, and has historically maintained close financial ties to the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) and The Alliance for Affordable Services (AAS),^[1] the latter two through which they also broker insurance via these aforementioned insurance companies, a practice which has resulted in regulatory investigation and a 5-year ban in the state of Massachusetts.

The company, rated #826 by Fortune (2006),^[2] is owned by a group of private equity investors, including affiliates of The Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, members of management and the Company’s independent, licensed agents through the Company’s agent stock accumulation plans. HealthMarkets won the Stevie Award for Insurance Sales Organization of the Year and was recognized in six other categories in the 2007 Selling Power Sales Excellence Award.^[3] HealthMarkets was also listed #189 by Forbes (2007) in their annual list of "America's Largest Private Companies" ^[4] The company currently sells a scheduled benefit and PPO plan that is tailored to each individual, as opposed to the "Basic Hospital Medical Surgical plan" which it previously sold.

The company has been the subject of legal disputes and regulatory fines regarding their illegal practices - including fraud, deceptive advertising, predatory sales practices, failing to provide health benefits required under state law, disclosing consumers’ personal information to third parties, illegally requiring individuals and small businesses to join associations to gain access to health plans, and bad faith denial of claims - which have resulted in $20 million in fines from insurance regulators in 29 states. ^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]}

HealthMarkets Subsidiaries

The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company

Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee

The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company

Alliance for Affordable Services / affordableservices.com

References

1. ^ http://www.selfemployedweb.com/nase-2.htm
2. ^ http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2007/snapshots/1476.html
3. ^ http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/sales/awards/398_2081_14151.cfm
4. ^ http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/21/biz_privates07_HealthMarkets_YCDA.html
5. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/insurance/2008-07-21-megalife-cancel-health-insurance_N.htm
6. ^ http://www.naic.org/Releases/2008_docs/healthmarkets_fine.htm
7. ^ http://law.freeadvice.com/insurance_law/health_insurance/mega-life-bad-faith-attorney-interview.htm
8. ^ http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070721/NEWS/707210369
9. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/regulation/2008-01-07-megalife-healthmarkets_n.htm
10. ^ http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/08/mega_insurance_scam.html
11. ^ http://www.insurance.wa.gov/oicfiles/marketconduct/2007mc/MegaOrder.pdf