MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- eHealth, Inc. (NASDAQ:EHTH), parent company of eHealthInsurance, the nation's leading online source of health insurance for individuals, families and small businesses, announced today that UnitedHealthcare's Golden Rule Insurance Company's health plans offered in 28 states through the eHealth platform are now enabled with EPI III.

EPI III is the third phase of eHealth's proprietary electronic processing interchange technology, which enables consumers to receive an expedited response to their electronically submitted health insurance applications. Individuals and families applying for any of Golden Rule's health insurance plans in 28 states will now be notified within one day of the status of their application.

"The expansion of EPI III moves us one step closer to our ultimate goal of providing instant notification to individuals and families across the country," said Gary Lauer, Chief Executive Officer of eHealth, Inc. "With Golden Rule's participation, EPI III now benefits consumers residing in states that comprise almost two-thirds of the U.S. population."

"Golden Rule was one of the first health insurance companies to benefit from EPI technology, which substantially improved the way consumers purchased health insurance online. We believe our customers will appreciate the enhanced consumer-purchasing experience provided by EPI III technology, which will enable them to obtain quality, affordable coverage more quickly and efficiently," said Golden Rule Chief Executive Officer Richard A. Collins.

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 with whom eHealth does business. The next generation of this technology, EPI III, may 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 notification.

About eHealth, Inc.

eHealth, Inc. (NASDAQ:EHTH) 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, www.ehealthinsurance.com, consumers can get quotes from leading health insurance carriers, compare plans side-by-side and 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.

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 individuals and families being notified within one day of the status of their application, customers appreciating the enhanced consumer-purchasing experience provided by EPI III technology, EPI III enabling customers to obtain quality, affordable coverage more quickly and efficiently 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 www.ehealthinsurance.com and on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at 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.

Source: eHealth, Inc.