IHC Specialty Benefit’s Rick Faucher Appointed Vice President of North American Pet Health Insurance Association

Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) March 09, 2017

IHC Specialty Benefits (IHC SB), a member of The IHC Group (IHC) announced that the North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA) Board of Directors elected Rick Faucher to Vice President. Mr. Faucher is President of IHC SB's Pet Health division and oversees the company's pet health enterprise, which includes their recent acquisition of PetPlace.com.

"I am honored that my peers have elected me to serve on NAPHIA's Board of Directors as its Vice President," said Mr. Faucher. "Having been a board member for several years, I have experienced first-hand, the commitment of this group to pet health needs and the solid growth opportunities for the market. Together with the support of our close-knit community, I look forward to serving and advancing the goals of pet health insurance industry through new initiatives and partnerships."

Kristen Lynch, Executive Director of NAPHIA, commented "NAPHIA is really excited to have Rick take on the role of Vice President. This executive board position is quickly becoming a key leadership position in terms of identifying and pursuing special initiatives that are important to the future of the organization and our industry. Having worked with Rick on past NAPHIA projects, he is ideally suited for this."

As Vice President, Mr. Faucher will lead several key initiatives for NAPHIA, including co-chairing the membership committee, supporting the ten year anniversary conference, TENacious Forum scheduled for May, and overseeing a committee to review e-claims capabilities with the veterinary community.

According to NAPHIA's State of the Industry report released this past May, the market continues to grow robustly with an annual average growth rate of 12% seen in 2015, compared to the prior year. More than 1.6 million pets are insured in North America.

Mr. Faucher joined IHC in 1998 and to date, has led many successful strategic product lines for the organization. He began overseeing IHC SB's pet health division in 2012, a year after the company entered the pet health market.

For more information on NAPHIA membership or pet health insurance, please contact Rick Faucher at 602-395-7083 or Rick.Faucher(at)IHCGroup(dot)com.

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About The IHC Group
Independence Holding Company (NYSE: IHC) is a holding company that is principally engaged in underwriting, administering and/or distributing group and individual specialty benefit products, including disability, supplemental health, pet, and group life insurance through its subsidiaries since 1980. The IHC Group owns three insurance companies (Standard Security Life Insurance Company of New York, Madison National Life Insurance Company, Inc. and Independence American Insurance Company), and IHC Specialty Benefits, Inc., a technology-driven insurance sales and marketing company that creates value for insurance producers, carriers and consumers (both individuals and small businesses) through a suite of proprietary tools and products (including ACA plans and small group medical stop-loss). All products are placed with highly rated carriers.

About NAPHIA
The North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA) is comprised of reputable pet health insurance (PHI) organizations from across Canada and the United States. NAPHIA's membership makes up over 99% of all pet health insurance coverage in effect in North America.

As a coalition, NAPHIA works to advance and grow the PHI industry through proactive research, data sharing, benchmarking initiatives, advocacy efforts, strategic partnerships, resource sharing and the dissemination of information to collaboratively address challenges and opportunities.

For more information about NAPHIA, visit http://www.naphia.org , or contact: Katherine Hardy, Communications Coordinator at communications@naphia.org or call 877-962-7442

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