Privacy Policy
Healthcare Consultants, Inc. (HCI)

Protecting the privacy of information about our customers is important. This notice tells you how we treat information about our current and former customers.

We do not sell information about our customers. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect it. Access to information about our customers is limited to people who need access to do their jobs.

We get most of the information we need from customer applications and other forms. If a customer authorizes it, we may get information from others.

For example, when a person applies for life insurance we may ask for permission to get information from

• Insurance support organizations such as the Medical Information Bureau and
• Consumer reporting agencies.

We also get information as we process customer transactions.

The information we may have includes:

CUSTOMER INFORMATION
such as Name, Address, Telephone Number, and Demographic Data.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION
such as Credit History, Income, Assets, and Other Insurance Products.

HEALTH INFORMATION
such as Medical history and other factors affecting insurability.
We use the information for business purposes, such as

• processing applications and claims,
• servicing your business, and
• offering you other products and services.

We share the information with others who provide services to help us process or administer our business.

For example, we may share information with

• a company that prints our customer statements,
• medical examiners who help us underwrite life insurance applications,
• service providers who help us process claims.

We require that our service providers limit their use of the information and keep it confidential.

We may share Customer Information with our affiliated companies to offer customers other products and services that may be of interest to them. (By law a customer cannot limit sharing of this information among affiliated companies.)

In most states, we may share Customer Information with companies not affiliated with us so that those companies, such as insurance or financial service companies, may also offer you financial products and services. However, you have the right to tell us that you don't want us to share any information with these companies. This right is known as the right to “opt out.”

We do not share Customer Information about our customers who live in Montana, New Mexico, or Vermont with any non-affiliated companies for marketing purposes, so residents of those states do not need to opt-out.

You may opt out at any time by sending us a written request. Even if you opt out we may still disclose information as allowed or required by law.

We will not share information with anyone else unless

• we have your permission, or
• we are allowed or required by law to disclose it.

Notification of Changes

This policy effective 08-23-07. If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on our Web site. Access to those changes will be presented via a link on our homepage and other places we deem appropriate so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected. If, however, we are going to use users' personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify users via email or postal mail. Users will have a choice as to whether or not we use their information in this different manner. However, if users have opted out of receiving communication from Healthcare Consultants, Inc., then they will not be contacted, nor will their personal information be used in this new manner. In addition, if we make any material changes in our privacy practices that do not affect user information already stored in our database, we will post a prominent notice on our Web site notifying users of the change.

Contact Information

If users have any questions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us at:
4615 Southwest Freeway, Suite 850
Houston, Texas 77027

713-626-2838
Fax 713-626-1817

Toll Free 888-626-6858
Toll Free Fax 888-626-1817

David Neider
david@hciamerica.com

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's computer tied to information about the user. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information while on our site. We use both session ID cookies and persistent cookies. For the session ID cookie, once users close the browser, the cookie simply terminates. A persistent cookie is a small text file stored on the user's hard drive for an extended period of time. Persistent cookies can be removed by following Internet browser help file directions. If users reject the cookie, they may still use our site. Persistent cookies enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our site.

Third Party Cookies and Action Tags

We may also use a service that collects data remotely by using web beacons or tags embedded in our site's content. The data we collect includes which operating system and browser you use, how you navigate to and through our site, and how long you stay on our web pages. This information is anonymous and does not include your name, e-mail address, or any other contact information. We use this data to improve our site by responding to our users' interests and providing more relevant and useful information.

Links

Healthcare Consultants, Inc. only partners with carriers who guarantee the privacy of site visitors using their (the carriers) quote generating engines.

Log Files

Like most standard Web site servers, we use log files. This includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user's movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses, etc. are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Security

This Web site takes every precaution to protect our users' information. When users submit sensitive information via the Web site, their information is protected both online and off-line. When our quote request form asks users to enter sensitive information (such health information), that information is encrypted and is protected with 128 bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption software. While on a secure page, such as our quote request form, the lock icon on the bottom of Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer becomes locked, as opposed to un-locked, or open, when users are just 'surfing'.

While we use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also do everything in our power to protect user-information off-line. All of our users' information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted in our offices. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, an agent or a customer service representative) are granted access to personally identifiable information. Furthermore, ALL employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices. Every year, as well as any time new policies are added, our employees are notified and/or reminded about the importance we place on privacy, and what they can do to ensure our users' information is protected. Finally, the servers that store personally identifiable information are in a secure environment in a locked facility. If users have any questions about the security at our Web site, users can send an email to info@hciamerica.com.