eHealth, Inc.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to eHealth, Inc.' 's conference call to discuss the company's first quarter 2025 financial results. At this time, all participants have been placed in listen-only mode. The floor will open for your questions following the prepared remarks. I will now turn the floor over to Eli Newbrand-Mintz, Senior Investor Relations Manager. Please go ahead.

Good morning and thank you all for joining us. On the call today, Fran Soisman, eHealth's Chief Executive Officer, and John Dolan, Chief Financial Officer, will discuss our first quarter 2025 financial results. Following these prepared remarks, we will open the line for a Q&A session with industry analysts. As a reminder, this call is being recorded and webcast from the investor relations section of our website. A replay of the call will be available on our website later today. Today's press release our historical financial news releases and our filings with the SEC are also available on our investor relations site. We will be making forward looking statements on the call about certain matters that are based upon management's current beliefs and expectations relating to future events impacting the company and our future financial or operating performance. Forward-looking statements on this call represent eHealth's views as of today, and actual results could differ materially. We undertake no obligation to publicly address or update any forward-looking statements except as required by law. The forward-looking statements we will be making during this call are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks, including but not limited to those described in today's press release and in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and our subsequent filings with the SEC. We will also be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures on this call. Management's definitions of these non-GAAP measures and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in today's press release. With that, I will turn the call over to Fran Soisman.

Thank you, Eli, and good morning, everyone. eHealth delivered another quarter of strong execution, driving significant revenue and profitability growth year over year. Medicare beneficiaries are navigating a complex and evolving plan landscape with significant benefit changes that became effective January 1 of this year. In this environment, our customer-centric choice model is more relevant than ever. During the first quarter, we increased our Medicare submissions 22% compared to a year ago, while also expanding enrollment margins, reflecting ongoing progress and optimizing our sales and marketing processes, and growing consumer awareness of our brand. First quarter revenue of $113.1 million grew 22%. GAAP net income was $2 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $12.5 million. We ended the quarter with $155.6 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term marketable securities. reflecting strong collections from new Medicare enrollments. The most recent enrollment cycle, encompassing the fourth quarter AEP and the first quarter OEP, served as a testament to the critical value of our services. Our omnichannel marketplace empowered hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries to explore their coverage choices, a complicated and highly consequential decision. During these critical months, eHealth was positioned to leverage elevated consumer demand due to our superior market positioning built on several key differentiators, including comprehensive and leading on each channel capabilities, an unwavering commitment to gold standard customer service that we believe sets us apart from industry alternatives, and our distinctive consumer brand that resonates with Medicare beneficiaries. Beyond driving new enrollment growth, providing exceptional service to our existing members, including the record-breaking cohort enrolled last AEP, remains a strategic priority. During the first quarter, we strengthened our retention initiatives, nearly doubling the size of our dedicated retention and customer service team. Despite the strategic investment, our acquisition cost per approved Medicare member, encompassing marketing and call center related expenses, decreased by 10% year over year. In April, our industry saw two important developments, the release of final Medicare Advantage and PDP rules, and the final Medicare Advantage reimbursement rates for plan year 2026. We see the final rules as striking the appropriate balance between protecting beneficiaries and acknowledging the value the quality reputable brokers such as eHealth offer seniors. The private sector can effectively provide critical Medicare advisory and distribution services at no cost to taxpayers, unlike government sponsored channels with budgets often measured in the hundreds of millions. But final Medicare Advantage carrier reimbursement rates exceeded market expectations and were substantially higher than the preliminary rates indicated earlier this year. This adjustment provides much-needed relief to the broader Medicare Advantage industry, which has faced challenges from regulatory changes, increased medical costs, and elevated plan utilization. While maximum broker commission rates have not yet been announced, they have historically correlated with movements in the final Medicare Advantage rates. It remains premature to predict the landscape of the next annual enrollment period. Carriers are currently developing their 2026 bid strategies, including benefit structures and geographic market strategies for Medicare Advantage offerings. We anticipate gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the upcoming AEP cycle once bids are submitted. Nevertheless, we firmly believe these CMS announcements constitute an important positive development for the entire Medicare Advantage ecosystem. and commend the administration for its continued support of this program, which has been shown to deliver superior health outcomes compared to traditional Medicare. Moving now to our first quarter operational performance. Total Medicare submissions across fulfillment models grew 22% year-over-year. Within our agency fulfillment model, we maintained strong momentum with submitted MA applications of 26% year-over-year, driven by our effective marketing strategies and improvements in telephonic and online conversion rates. We recognize that the annual notice of change for ANOCS can be confusing to seniors. In fact, not all beneficiaries who experienced coverage or provider network changes, which became effective January 1, fully understood the impact until they started utilizing their plans. Anticipating this, we retained a larger number of licensed advisors going into OEP and were able to effectively support this continued strength in demand for our services. During the quarter, we generated robust growth across all fulfillment channels, spanning telephonic, pure enrollment, and online assistance. Hybrid enrollments, where seniors utilized a combination of our proprietary online tools and licensed advisory support, experienced the strongest growth at 38% year-over-year for submitted MA applications. This demonstrates the advantage of our unique omnichannel features, such as live advise video conversations, online agent chat, plan text proposals, and other integrated capabilities. Our branded messaging continues to resonate with Medicare beneficiaries, helping to drive another meaningful year-over-year increase in contribution from direct channels compared to third-party lead sources. To date, our brand strategy has primarily emphasized the advisor-driven customer experience highlighted by our Medicare Matchmaker TV advertisements that received excellent reception among target demographics. We believe further opportunity remains in harnessing this brand momentum toward our online experience. As we approach next AEP, we will implement comprehensive initiatives to extend our brand identity to create a stronger, more visible connection between our trusted brand, our gold standard advisors, and our sophisticated online consumer platform. eHealth remains committed to maintaining our position as the technological leader in our industry. Last week, we announced an innovative pilot program integrating artificial intelligence across components of our telephonic enrollment funnel. Initial results and customer feedback have been positive. AI represents a powerful tool that has allowed us to provide valuable assistance to customers after hours and could enable us to deliver more timely customer service during peak enrollment days when industry-wide telephonic wait times are typically long. We plan to continue evaluating and refining these capabilities in preparation for the upcoming AEP. In Q1, we maintained our proactive approach to member retention. Overall, we are encouraged by early indicators, particularly our enhanced ability to recapture members who transition between plans while remaining on our platform. We will have a more comprehensive view of our retention performance in time for our next earnings call. eHealth continues to receive positive feedback from carrier partners regarding our quality scores, our strategic investments and retention initiatives, and the consistent enrollment volume growth we've delivered in recent quarters. Several carriers have specifically highlighted the superior quality metrics associated with enrollments generated through our branded marketing channels. We remain bullish on our diversification opportunities outside of our core MA capabilities. In Q1, we drove strong growth in our ancillary insurance products anchored by hospital indemnity and dental insurance plans. Further, we achieved Medicare supplement submission growth of 32% within our agency fulfillment model. We also continue to believe in the long-term potential of the Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement, or ICRA market. This product area is still very small in terms of its financial impact, but is expected to become a more meaningful contributor in 2026 and beyond as we work to create a best in class, seamless process for B2B customers to gain value from our services. The first quarter represents a strong start to the year. While we exceeded our expectations with respect to earnings, We're not making any changes to guidance as it's simply too early in the annual cycle. AEP remains our key volume quarter, despite the increased significance of Q1 this year. Additionally, we are awaiting several important data points pertaining to the industry outlook, including carrier benefit designs, their AEP strategies, and broker commission rates, among others. As we transition into Q2, We anticipate challenging year-over-year comparisons due to regulatory changes and dual special need plans, or DSNIP, enrollment rules. These factors are fully incorporated into our forecast for Q2 and Q3, as well as our comprehensive 2025 guidance. New to Medicare enrollments will constitute an especially important consumer segment for us in Q2 and Q3. We believe we are well positioned to succeed with these beneficiaries given our advanced technological capabilities and sophisticated audience targeting strategies. Other eligible audiences who can enroll outside the standard AAP and OEP windows, such as beneficiaries qualifying for chronic special needs plans, or C-STEPs, and seniors who have recently relocated or retired, will also be important for our enrollment volume throughout the next two quarters. With RRI on the critical fourth quarter, we are already starting our preparations for the next AEP, including ramping and training our advisor force, developing the marketing and media plans to continue to scale our brand, and meeting with carriers to discuss how we can best support their strategies this year. Before I turn the call over to our CFO, I would like to acknowledge and comment on the Department of Justice complaint announced last week, naming eHealth and several other players in our industry. We first disclosed the government's investigation into this matter in early 2022. Since then, the company has fully cooperated with the Department of Justice to demonstrate that we are conducting and have in the past conducted our business affairs consistently with federal regulations. Our legal team has spent the last week reviewing the complaint, and we strongly believe the key claims of the claim are without merit, and we intend to challenge them vigorously in court. It's also important to note that the claims asserted in the complaint are allegations only. There have been no determinations of liability, and eHealth has not taken a litigation loss reserve related to this matter as of today. Finally, I want to reemphasize eHealth's steadfast commitment to our customers to provide free, unbiased expert advice as they navigate complexities of the healthcare environment. We are an organization that places a high value on integrity and transparency. Our mission to expertly guide consumers through their health insurance and related options when, where, and how they prefer is critical to what we do at eHealth and contributes to our operational decisions on a daily basis. I'll now turn the call over to John Dolan, who will cover our financial results in greater detail. John?