Health Insurance Innovations, Inc. Announces the Addition of Former Director of the Illinois Department of Insurance

TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Health Insurance Innovations, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIIQ), a leading cloud-based technology platform and distributor of affordable individual and family health insurance and supplemental plans, announced today the addition of Jennifer Hammer, former director of the Illinois Department of Insurance. 

Jennifer served as the first confirmed female Director of the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI) from January 2017 until December 2018.  Jennifer served as a member of the Illinois Governor’s Cabinet and led the department in its mission to protect and educate consumers, embrace and encourage innovation and efficiency, and create a vital and robust insurance market. Jennifer established the Division of Innovation at IDOI, led the efforts to receive the sole state approval for a benchmark plan change, and was a tireless advocate for mental health parity, affordability, and innovative solutions to continued uncertainty for health insurance consumers.

Prior to her role as Director, Jennifer served as the Governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff over Policy, Policy Advisor for Healthcare and Human Services, and Special Counsel to the Governor. In addition, Jennifer brings experience from her time serving the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, both as Associate Vice President & Legal Counsel of Government Affairs and as Executive Director of the Healthcare Council.

Gavin Southwell, HIIQ’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “With more than a decade of experience in healthcare policy, Jennifer’s expertise is an incredible addition to the vast experience of the current HIIQ compliance and regulatory teams.”

In her new role, Jennifer will lead the HIIQ Strategic Initiatives Team, which is currently staffed with highly talented professionals who have decades of experience in healthcare, strategic research, analytics, risk management, and technology experience from previous roles at firms, including Assurant, Willis Towers Watson, and others. 

As head of the HIIQ Strategic Initiatives Team, Jennifer will focus on consumer-oriented projects and initiatives that are directed to enhancing the value to consumers of the plans offered through the HIIQ platform and will work closely with our in-house regulatory counsel and team of regulatory paralegals.

Mr. Southwell further commented, “We are very excited for Jennifer to join the HIIQ team and are confident that she’ll bring an unprecedented level of experience, knowledge, and leadership that will support our continued focus on innovation, regulatory compliance, and customer satisfaction.”

About Health Insurance Innovations, Inc. (HIIQ)

HIIQ is a market leading cloud-based technology platform and distributor of innovative health insurance products that are affordable and meet the needs of health insurance plan consumers. HIIQ helps develop insurance products through our relationships with best-in-class insurance companies and markets them via its broad distribution network of third party licensed insurance agents across the nation, its call center network and its unique online capability. Additional information about HIIQ can be found at HiiQuote.com. HIIQ’s Consumer Division includes AgileHealthInsurance.com, a website for researching, comparing and purchasing short-term health insurance products online and HealthPocket.com, a free website that compares and ranks all health insurance plans, and uses objective data to publish unbiased health insurance market analyses and other consumer advocacy research.