A recent report released by Hindenburg Research has claimed that SeekMedicare has been misleading customers as it revealed that Walgreens Boots Alliance is an investor in SeekMedicare, a subsidiary of Clover Health. This assumes significance as SeekMedicare is among the business practices of the insurer that are under the scanner of the Department of Justice (DOJ). The report says Clover Health and its promoter Chamath Palihapitiya misled investors about critical aspects of the former’s business in the run-up to the company’s SPAC go-public transaction last month.
- According to the report, Clover did not disclose that its business model and its software offering, Clover Assistant, were under investigation by the DOJ, which is investigating at least 12 issues “ranging from kickbacks to marketing practices to undisclosed third-party deals”.
- The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into Clover Health after the Hindenburg report came out. Clover Health has, however, denied being contacted by the DOJ or SEC.
- According to a Forbes report, a SeekMedicare spokesperson confirmed that Walgreens is an investor and that Jared Josleyn, a vice president of innovation at Walgreens, serves as a board observer. Josleyn was in the past associated with consumer health strategy and partnerships at Google Health and Google’s life sciences division, Verily. Alphabet’s venture arm GV is also an investor in Clover Health, it said.
- In a social media post, SeekMedicare president Brady Priest has admitted to “strategic relationship” with Walgreens, including in-person program in 100-odd Walgreens stores to build “a community-based program that intends to help local seniors find and understand their Medicare coverage options, while also providing meaningful, long-term career opportunities in each community that we enter.”
- In a Medium post, Clover president Andrew Toy wrote: “Clover is a huge believer in information liquidity for Medicare-eligibles, as well as the concept of truly neutral guidance and informed decision-making. That’s why we seeded SeekMedicare.”