Health Coverage Insurance Services, Inc. and Assurant Health Companies
Time Insurance Company
John Alden Life Insurance Company
Union Security Company
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.
Assurant Health is required by law to maintain the privacy of protected health information and to provide the people we insure with this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices. Assurant Health is required to abide by the terms of the Notice.
Who We Are
Health Coverage Insurance Services, Inc located in Santa Rosa, California is online and off line insurance agency specializing in helping individuals, families and small business in finding affordable health insurance plans. Our staff of licensed agents can answer any questions you might have, assist you in selecting a plans that is right for you and help you with application process. We maintain a comprehensive websites for your individual and small group health insurance needs. We offer FREE instant online insurance quotes and applications from major health insurance carriers.
Who is Assurant Health
Assurant Health has been in business since 1892 and is the brand name for products underwritten and issued by Time Insurance Company, John Alden Life Insurance Company and Union Security Insurance Company. Together, these three underwriting companies provide health insurance coverage for more than one million people nationwide. Each underwriting company is financially responsible for its own insurance products. Primary products include individual medical, small group, short-term and student health insurance products, consumer-choice products such as Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimbursement Arrangements, as well as non-insurance products. With almost 3,000 employees, Assurant Health is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., and has operations offices in Minnesota, Idaho and Florida, as well as sales offices across the country.
Assurant Health is part of Assurant, a premier provider of specialized insurance products and related services in North America and selected international markets. Its four key businesses—Assurant Employee Benefits, Assurant Health, Assurant Solutions and Assurant Specialty Property—have partnered with clients who are leaders in their industries and have built leadership positions in a number of specialty insurance market segments worldwide.
Assurant, a Fortune 500 company, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ. Assurant has more than $20 billion in assets and $7 billion in annual revenue.
Information Assurant Health Collects
To serve your health insurance needs, Assurant Health collects information about you. We may collect this information directly from you orally or on applications or other forms. We also collect information from third parties such as your agent or broker, your current or former health care providers and consumer reporting agencies. In addition, this information may include your transactions with Assurant Health, its affiliates and others. It is impossible to describe every type of information that we collect, but here are some examples: your name, age, address, Social Security number, telephone number, occupation and other demographic information about you and your family; whether you are a past or present customer with us, or if you ever applied for an insurance product or service from us, as well as your history of other insurance coverage and applications (if you apply online, information is collected through an Internet “cookie,” an information-collecting device from a web server); your past, present or future physical, mental or behavioral health or condition; your health care history; your history of insurance coverage, premiums, claims and payments through Assurant Health; information from consumer reporting agencies and data collection agencies.
How Assurant Health May Use and Disclose Information About You
We use and disclose information about you in serving your health insurance needs. It is impossible to describe every type of information that we use or disclose but we have provided some examples of how we use this information to provide services to you and your dependents.
Treatment: Your health care provider may ask us to use or disclose protected health information in connection with treatment, including the provision, coordination, or management of health care and related services.
Payment: We may use and disclose protected health information for payment purposes, including billing, review of health care services, determining whether a service is “medically necessary” and for utilization review. For instance, a doctor or health facility involved in your care may forward a claim to us with your protected health information. Assurant Health must have this health information to process your claims.
Health Care Operations: Assurant Health may use and disclose protected health information as part of our health care operations. For example, we may use and disclose information in the underwriting process, renewal process, quality assessment activities or accreditation and certification.
Plan Sponsors: If you are enrolled in a group health plan, Assurant Health may provide protected health information to the plan sponsor. For instance, we may share enrollment or disenrollment information with your employer.
Health-related Benefits and Services: We may, from time to time, contact you about treatment alternatives or other health related benefits, products or services that may be of interest to you, and for case management or care coordination.
Business Associates: Assurant Health works with companies and consultants who perform a wide variety of functions on our behalf. For example, we work with financial institutions such as agents, brokers, insurance distributors, reinsurers and excess loss insurers, non-financial institutions such as health care providers, detectors of fraud, auditors, insurance support organizations, claims handlers, underwriters, and others such as information technology specialists and consultants. At times it may be necessary for us to provide your protected health information to one or more of these outside persons or organizations who assist us with our health care operations. In all cases, we require these business associates to provide written assurances to us that they will appropriately safeguard the privacy of your protected health information.
Permitted or Required by Law: Assurant Health may release information when requested by law enforcement officials or when permitted or required by law. If you are involved in a lawsuit or dispute, Assurant Health may need to disclose protected health information in response to a court or administrative order.
More Stringent Laws: Assurant Health offers health coverage in many states across the nation. In some cases we may be required to follow the state law provisions on use and disclosure of your protected health information, which may be more stringent than those outlined in this notice.
Our Security Safeguards
Assurant Health has established safeguards to ensure the security and confidentiality of information about you. These safeguards include protection against any anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of the information, as well as protection against the unauthorized access to or use of this information. We restrict access to your information to those employees “who need to know that information” to provide products or services to you or on your behalf.
Any other use or disclosure of your protected health information may only be made with your written authorization, which may be revoked under certain circumstances at any time.
Your Rights Regarding Protected Health Information
You have the following rights regarding protected health information we maintain about you:
Right to Access: You have the right to request to access and/or inspect your protected health information in a designated record set. A designated record set could include information related to enrollment, premium payment, claims adjudication and medical management.
Right to Amend: If you feel that the information we have about you is incorrect, you may ask to have protected health information in a designated record set amended. You have the right to request an amendment as long as the information is kept and created by Assurant Health.
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to receive an accounting of disclosures made by us of your protected health information after April 14, 2003. The accounting will not include disclosures made for purposes of treatment, payment or health care operations, disclosures permitted or required by law, or disclosures to you or to third parties to whom you have authorized disclosure.
Right to Request Restrictions: You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the health information we use or disclose about you for treatment, payment or health care operations. We are not required to agree to a requested restriction.
Right to Confidential Communications: If you feel that your life may be in danger if Assurant Health contacts you at the address or phone number maintained in our records, you may request that we contact you in a different way or at a different location.
Complaints: If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with Assurant Health or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. All complaints must be in writing. You will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint.
Changes to This Notice
We reserve the right to make changes to this notice and to make the revised or changed notice effective for protected health information we already have about you as well as any information we receive or create in the future.
If you have any questions regarding our privacy statement, please contact us at:
AssurantHealthCoverage.com
1104 College Ave
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
contact@assuranthealthcoverage.com