An online provider of health insurance information is boosting its Medicare portfolio with a new acquisition.

eHealth, Inc., the parent company of eHealthInsurance.com and eHealthMedicare.com, has acquired privately held PlanPrescriber, Inc., for approximately $28.7 million in cash. Based in Maynard, Mass., and formerly known as Experion Systems, Inc., PlanPrescriber provides online and pharmacy-based tools designed to help seniors seeking a Medicare plan.

“The PlanPrescriber acquisition is highly strategic and a great example of what we are looking for in an acquisition partner,” said Gary Lauer, president and CEO of Mountain View, Calif.-based eHealth. “eHealth is continuing to build its retail Medicare initiative, which is a natural extension of eHealth's online individual and family health insurance business and a way to significantly expand our portfolio of offerings. PlanPrescriber will help accelerate our penetration of the large and expanding senior market.”

“At eHealth we're committed to giving seniors the information, choices and personal assistance they need in order to make the best decisions for their health insurance,” added Bruce Telkamp, the company’s executive vice president of business and corporate development. “Incorporating the PlanPrescriber team, its powerful consumer-focused technology and its relationships with leading pharmacies will allow us to immediately offer seniors an online Medicare research and shopping experience, and do so with a national footprint. Our near-term plans with the new PlanPrescriber subsidiary will include the launch and integration of online enrollment capabilities into the PlanPrescriber platform.”

Launched in 2000 by Glen Urban, a professor and former dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, PlanPrescriber provides a platform from which Medicare-eligible individuals can compare prescription drug and Medicare Advantage plans. The company will become a wholly owned subsidiary of eHealth – which is authorized by more than 180 health insurance companies in the United States and is licensed to sell health insurance in every state and the District of Columbia. CEO Ross Blair will remain at its helm.

“Since our introduction of PlanPrescriber in 2006, we have helped millions of seniors understand their Medicare options,” said Blair. “We always viewed eHealth as the leader in simplifying complex health insurance products online, and it is incredibly exciting for us now to integrate our technologies and teams to pursue the large and growing senior marketplace together.”