Distributor of PPACA-free products posts big sales gains

Health Insurance Innovations Inc. (HII) says it took in 48 percent more approved applications for short-term health insurance and hospital indemnity plans in the third quarter than it received in the third quarter of 2013.

The number of approved applications for other types of products, such as critical illness insurance, dental plans and vision plans, increased 158 percent, HII (Nasdaq:HIIQ) says.

HII does not report on the actual number of policies it sells each quarter, but it had a total of 36,296 short-term health and hospital indemnity policies in force at the end of the third quarter of 2013.

HII sells products excepted from most of the laws and regulations that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA). Insurers can sell new major medical policies only during the PPACA open enrollment period, or to consumers who qualify for special enrollment periods (SEPs).

Insurers and distributors can sell excepted benefits products all year round.