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HealthAxis.com on Track to Meet Quarterly Expectations
Company Management Expresses Comfort with Analysts' Estimates for Both Q4 of 1999 and Q1 of
2000
EAST NORRITON, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2000--HealthAxis.com, a subsidiary of HealthAxis Inc. (NASDAQ: HAXS - news), and the health
insurance industry's proven provider of Internet solutions for health plan distribution and administration, today announced it expects to meet published estimates for
both its fourth quarter 1999 and first quarter 2000, excluding depreciation and amortization, merger related costs and operational expenses related to HealthAxis
Inc. As planned, the company will formally report its year end and fourth quarter results prior to March 31. Additionally, as previously announced, the company is
on track for a Q2 closing of the merger between HealthAxis Inc. and HealthAxis.com.
The company's Business-to-Business Applications Solutions Group is on target to meet its goals, according to Michael Ashker, HealthAxis' chief executive officer.
``We have been aggressively marketing ourselves as a `turn-key Internet solutions provider' for healthcare payers. Our ability to provide both front-end distribution
services and back-end processing solutions is a real win for the payer community. As a result, the company is becoming increasingly optimistic about our growing
pipeline of prospective new payer clients.'
HealthAxis' Consumer Services Group is likewise on schedule with respect to analysts' estimates. In the past quarter, the Consumer Services Group has launched
multiple carriers, upgraded the platform's user interface, and signed a major distribution agreement with Insurance.com, the online insurance affiliate of Fidelity
Investment Services. Mr. Ashker continued, ``As of today, HealthAxis.com is the first and only online health insurance marketer selling into all fifty states. Thanks to
the hard work of the talented people in our Consumer Services Group, HealthAxis.com is the clear and proven leader in online health insurance distribution.'
Separately, the company announced that its largest shareholder, UICI, has privately placed 2 million of its HealthAxis.com shares with a single undisclosed
institutional investor. UICI executed the sale to raise cash due to its previously announced, unanticipated losses in its unrelated credit card operation. The company
understands that the private transaction satisfied UICI's immediate need for cash and the company understands that UICI will seek alternatives, other than the sale of
additional HealthAxis.com shares, to meet future cash needs.
About HealthAxis.com
HealthAxis.com, Inc. is the leading provider of Internet solutions for healthcare insurance marketing, sales and payer connectivity. HealthAxis.com is the only
e-healthcare company servicing both the consumer and business-to-business marketplaces with health plan solutions. The company's consumer Web site,
www.healthaxis.com, is a fully transactional, online health insurance agency targeting the individual and small group markets. The company's proprietary workflow
and business application software, built around an application service provider model, enables healthcare payers -- carriers, third party administrators, and large,
self-funded groups -- to more efficiently capture, process, and share health plan data over the Internet. HealthAxis.com is headquartered in suburban Philadelphia,
with significant operations in Dallas, as well as offices in eight other locations both domestic and abroad. The company employs over 350 IT professionals.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements made by the company which are not historical facts may be
considered forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements as to trends, management's beliefs, expectations and opinions, which are based upon
a number of assumptions concerning future conditions that ultimately may prove to be inaccurate. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties and may be affected by various factors, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. For further
information which could cause actual results to differ from the company's expectations as well as other factors which could affect the company's financial statements,
please refer to HealthAxis Inc.'s (previously Provident American Corporation) reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. |
