HealthShareNerd ("we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website at healthsharenerd.com.
Information We Collect
Personal Information You Provide
We collect information you voluntarily provide to us when you:
- Take our Plan Matcher Quiz: Email address, health coverage preferences, household size, budget, and health priorities. We do NOT collect specific health conditions or medical diagnoses.
- Subscribe to email updates: Email address and selected health sharing program (for "Watch My Plan" alerts).
- Contact us: Name, email address, and any information you include in your message.
Automatically Collected Information
When you visit our website, we automatically collect certain information about your device, including:
- Usage data: Pages visited, time spent on pages, links clicked, referral source (how you found our site).
- Device information: Browser type, operating system, device type (mobile, tablet, desktop).
- IP address: We hash your IP address before storage for privacy protection. We cannot identify you from a hashed IP address.
- Cookies and tracking technologies: We use cookies to improve site functionality and analytics. See "Cookies" section below.
How We Use Your Information
We use your information to:
- Deliver quiz results: Email your personalized health share program recommendations immediately after quiz completion.
- Send educational content: We may send you a follow-up email series (5 emails over 10 days) with educational content about health sharing. You can unsubscribe anytime.
- Send plan change alerts: If you subscribe to "Watch My Plan," we'll email you when your selected program changes pricing, coverage, or policies.
- Improve our website: Analyze traffic patterns, popular pages, and user behavior to enhance site performance and content.
- Respond to inquiries: Answer your questions or provide customer support.
- Comply with legal obligations: Respond to lawful requests and prevent fraud or abuse.
How We Share Your Information
We do NOT sell your personal information to third parties. We may share your information in the following limited circumstances:
- With health sharing programs (when you click affiliate links): When you click a "Get a Quote" link, you will be redirected to the health sharing program's website. We do NOT share your email address or quiz answers with them. Any information you provide on their website is governed by their privacy policy, not ours.
- With service providers: We use third-party services for email delivery (Polsia email proxy), analytics (Polsia analytics), and hosting (Render). These providers are contractually required to protect your data and use it only to provide services to us.
- For legal compliance: We may disclose information to comply with legal obligations, enforce our Terms of Service, protect our rights, or respond to lawful requests from authorities.
- Business transfers: If HealthShareNerd is acquired or merged with another company, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. You will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our website.
Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your experience on our website:
- Essential cookies: Required for website functionality (e.g., remembering your quiz progress).
- Analytics cookies: Help us understand how visitors use our site (page views, referral sources, popular content). We use server-side analytics with hashed IP addresses.
- Affiliate tracking cookies: Track clicks on affiliate links so we can earn commissions when you sign up for a program. These cookies do NOT collect personal information about you.
Opt-out: You can disable cookies in your browser settings. However, some features of our site may not function properly without cookies.
Data Retention
We retain your information for as long as necessary to provide our services and comply with legal obligations:
- Quiz submissions: Stored indefinitely to improve our recommendation algorithm and track site performance. Email addresses are retained until you unsubscribe.
- Email subscribers: Retained until you unsubscribe via the unsubscribe link in any email.
- Analytics data: Aggregated usage data is stored indefinitely. Hashed IP addresses are stored for 12 months.
Your Privacy Rights
Depending on your location, you may have the following rights:
- Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- Correction: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Deletion: Request deletion of your personal information (subject to legal retention requirements).
- Opt-out of emails: Unsubscribe from marketing emails via the unsubscribe link in any email. Transactional emails (e.g., quiz results) cannot be opted out.
- Do Not Track: We do not currently respond to "Do Not Track" browser signals.
To exercise your rights: Email us at hello@healthsharenerd.com with your request. We will respond within 30 days.
Data Security
We implement reasonable security measures to protect your information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction:
- Encryption: All data transmitted to our servers is encrypted using TLS (HTTPS).
- Hashed IP addresses: We hash IP addresses using SHA-256 before storage to prevent identification.
- Limited access: Only authorized personnel have access to personal data.
No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Children's Privacy
Our website is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately at hello@healthsharenerd.com.
Third-Party Links
Our website contains links to third-party websites (including health sharing program websites). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these external sites. We encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing any personal information.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by:
- Posting the updated policy on this page with a new "Last Updated" date
- Sending an email to subscribers (if changes affect how we use your email address)
Your continued use of our website after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.
California Privacy Rights (CCPA)
If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA):
- Right to know: Request details about the personal information we collect, use, and disclose.
- Right to delete: Request deletion of your personal information.
- Right to opt-out of sale: We do NOT sell personal information, so this right does not apply.
- Non-discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your CCPA rights.
To exercise your CCPA rights: Email hello@healthsharenerd.com with your request.
Contact Us
If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:
Email: hello@healthsharenerd.com
Website: healthsharenerd.com