IRVING, Texas, June 27, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Access Plans USA, Inc. (Nasdaq:AUSA), a nationwide distributor of health insurance and non-insurance healthcare programs that provide access to affordable healthcare for families and individuals in the United States, including the growing number of uninsured and/or underinsured, has announced expansion of its sales resources and the release to market of five new products during the past two months.
Expanded Sales Resources William A. Freshwater recently joined the company as Regulatory Counsel and Vice President of Sales, and Larry L. Sigle has been named Director of Consumer Plan Sales.
"Both Will and Larry have extensive experience in sales development of both insurance and discount medical programs," said Ian R. Stuart, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Access Plans USA. "Adding these two professionals to our management team is an important step in our aggressive national marketing and product development plans for insurance, consumer plan and discount medical products."
Freshwater is focusing on new sales and marketing opportunities, product development, and acts as the company's liaison with certain marketing partners. He has a strong background in marketing/product development of products designed to meet specific market niches, as well as regulatory compliance for both insurance and discount medical products. He was previously General Counsel/Executive Vice President at Group Dental Service of Maryland, Inc., in Rockville, MD. Prior to that, he was Associate Director & Counsel, Reinsurance and International Relations, at the American Council of Life Insurers; Assistant Counsel, International Relations, at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners; and he handled advertising review and regulatory analysis at CIGNA Insurance Company. Freshwater holds a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and a B.A. in political science & philosophy from Boston College.
Sigle joined Access Plans to market consumer plans and specialty products and to work with client companies to develop private label products and/or embed Access Plans' discount medical and supplemental programs into existing insurance plans and other products. He has significant experience in sales of insurance and other health-related products through corporate clients and associations. Sigle was previously National Sales Manager for Dental Solutions at DenteMax, a dental network manager with more than 81,000 dental access points across the nation. Prior to that he was an underwriter at Farmers Alliance Insurance Company; Vice President of the Dental Division at Continental General Insurance Company; and Marketing Director, Dental Division, at American Medical Security. Sigle holds an M.B.A. and a B.S. from Kansas State University and is a CLU (Chartered Life Underwriter) and ChCF (Chartered Financial Consultant) through the American College.
Five New Products Released
During the past two months, Access Plans has released to market five new products, spanning both insured and non-insured programs, as part of the company's drive to focus on individual products for consumers who do not have employer-sponsored healthcare programs and consumers who wish to supplement their current health plans. The newly introduced products are:
* AHCP Dental - An insured dental product that is designed to complement major medical health insurance and health savings account (HSA) qualified high deductible health plans. * HealthCard Now Signature 1000 - A limited insured benefit plan that is a great solution for those who cannot medically qualify for health insurance or who cannot afford a traditional health insurance or who want to supplement their existing health insurance plan. * HealthCard Now Signature 300 - A more economical version of Signature 1000, with lower benefit levels for a lower monthly cost. * Med Plus - A quality discount medical plan that includes patient advocacy service to help reduce medical expenses. This program is sold through Access Plans' national multi-level marketing entity, USA Healthcare Savings. * My Health Assistant - A personal healthcare advocate package -- for both insured and uninsured individuals and families -- that includes patient advocacy; 24-hour access via telephone and internet to physicians, psychologists and nurses; and online and telephone health information sources.
"The market we are targeting is huge and growing," Stuart said. "In 2006, only 60% of the U.S. population participated in employer-sponsored medical insurance plans. While it is estimated that 47 million Americans were without health insurance coverage in 2006, a 5% increase over 2005, a large percentage of this population includes potential customers for Access Plans. The percentage of people working full-time without health insurance increased to 18% in 2006, and among the uninsureds, almost 9% have annual incomes over $75,000."
"Access Plans is working hard to capture a piece of this large, evolving market," Stuart added. "We are adding sales resources; leveraging our excellent Consumer Plan Division back office platform; maintaining a differentiated value-added program for independent agents, who are our Insurance Marketing Division's primary customers; developing cross-over and convergence of our Consumer Plan and Insurance Marketing divisions; and emphasizing top-notch regulatory and compliance management."
About Access Plans USA
Access Plans USA provides access to affordable healthcare to individuals and families. Our health insurance products and our non-insurance healthcare discount programs are designed as affordable solutions, with special focus on providing answers for the growing number of uninsured and underinsured seeking a way to address rising healthcare costs. We also offer third party claims administration, provider network management, and utilization management services to employers and groups that choose to utilize partially self funded strategies to finance their benefit programs. We are committed to assuring that our clients have access to the healthcare that they need at prices they can afford. For more information on Access Plans USA, Inc. please visit www.accessplansusa.com.
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Disclaimer
Certain statements included in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Certain, but not necessarily all, of such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate", "believes", "expects", "may", "will", or "should", or other variations thereon, and by discussions of strategies that involve risks and uncertainties. Access Plans USA, Inc. actual results or industry results may be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include those set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and each of the Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed since such date. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or to make any other forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.