In Brief: Sued, Insweb Suspends Health Quoting

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Insweb announced Wednesday that it has temporarily suspended health-insurance quoting and said it is being sued by the company that provided those quotes, eHealthInsurance of Sunnyvale, Calif.

Insweb said eHealthInsurance has terminated a two-year agreement signed in April 2000 that made eHealthInsurance the co-branded Web site’s exclusive provider of individual health, small-group health, and Medicare supplement insurance quotes. “As a result of that agreement, Insweb discontinued the operation of its own online health-insurance marketplace,” the Sacramento company said.

In its lawsuit, eHealthInsurance charges that Insweb failed to perform its obligations.

Mark Guthrie, president and chief operating officer of Insweb, said in a news release: “We strongly disagree that our former partner had any grounds to terminate this agreement. We intend to vigorously defend the suit against us and pursue all legal remedies available to us to hold eHealthInsurance accountable for its actions.”

Insweb said it is seeking another health-insurance quote provider and that it does not expect the “developments” announced Wednesday to have an impact on the financial targets it made public Feb.1.

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