TheBenefits.Guru Insurance Services is an independent insurance brokerage licensed in California (Agency Lic. #0I36052). This policy explains what personal information we collect when you contact us or use this website, how we use it, and the choices you have. We are a two-person agency — Todd Larner and Patricia Amano Larner — and your information is handled by us directly.
Information We Collect
Information you give us. When you complete a form on this site, call us, or email us, we collect what you provide — typically your name, phone number, email address, ZIP code, and date of birth. Depending on what you are asking about, we may also collect household size, projected household income, information about dependents, your current coverage, and your employer or group details.
Health-related information. For Medicare and some individual health applications, we may collect your Medicare number, Part A and Part B effective dates, the medications you take, and the providers you see. We collect this only when it is needed to compare plans or complete an application on your behalf, and only after we have spoken with you.
What you tell us on the phone. Our calls are recorded and transcribed. See Call Recording and Transcription below.
Information from your employer. If your employer offers coverage through us, they send us what we need to enroll you — typically your name, date of birth, hire date, address, and the same details for any dependents you are covering. We receive this from your employer rather than from you, and we use it only to set up, change, or end your coverage and to meet the notice requirements that come with it. If you would like to know what your employer has given us about you, ask us and we will tell you.
Information from carriers and exchanges. Insurance carriers, Covered California, and Covered California for Small Business may send us information about your application, enrollment, eligibility, or coverage status.
Website information. When you visit this site we collect standard technical information such as your IP address, browser type, the pages you view, and how you arrived. This is described further under Cookies and Website Analytics below.
How We Use Your Information
We use your information to respond to your enquiry, prepare quotes, compare plans, submit applications to carriers or Covered California on your behalf, service your policy, and contact you about your coverage. We also use it to meet our obligations as a licensed California insurance producer and the requirements of the carriers we represent.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We never have.
Sharing With Carriers and Third Parties
We share your information only where it is necessary to do the work you have asked us to do, or where the law requires it:
- Insurance carriers — to obtain quotes and submit applications.
- Covered California and Covered California for Small Business — where you are applying through the exchange.
- Your employer — where your coverage is through a group plan, we confirm enrollment, changes, and terminations with whoever administers the plan. We do not pass on health information you have given us.
- Service providers who run our systems — principally Zoho (our client records, web forms, chat, and email newsletters), Google (email and document storage), and Dialpad (our phone system, including its recording and AI transcription features). These providers process information on our behalf under their own security and privacy commitments, and are not permitted to use it for their own purposes.
- Regulators and law enforcement — where we are legally required to disclose, including the California Department of Insurance and, for Medicare business, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
We do not provide your information to lead buyers, marketing companies, or other agencies.
Call Recording and Transcription
We want to be plain about this, because it applies to every conversation you have with us by phone.
All of our calls are recorded. You will hear a disclosure at the beginning of every call. For Medicare, recording is required of third-party marketing organizations by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; for other lines of business we record for accuracy and to keep a reliable account of what was discussed and agreed.
Calls are also transcribed automatically. Our phone system, Dialpad, converts each recording into a written transcript and uses automated analysis to produce a short summary of the call, a list of follow-up items, and an indicator of the tone of the conversation. We use these to make sure nothing is missed between one conversation and the next. No decision about your coverage is made by that automated analysis — those are made by Todd or Trish.
Because we discuss coverage, these recordings and transcripts may contain health information — conditions, medications, and providers, where you have raised them. They are held within our phone system, which is access-controlled and available only to Todd and Trish.
How long we keep them. Medicare call recordings are retained for the period CMS requires. Other recordings and transcripts are retained for as long as we use this phone system. If you would like a recording or transcript of your calls deleted, ask us and we will do so unless a specific rule requires us to keep it.
If you would rather not be recorded, tell us at the start of the call. For non-Medicare matters we can continue by email instead. For Medicare, recording is a requirement we cannot waive, so we would arrange to help you another way.
Your Rights and Choices
If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act gives you the right to know what personal information we hold about you, to request a copy of it, to ask us to correct it, and to ask us to delete it. You also have the right to limit our use of sensitive personal information, and the right not to be treated differently for exercising any of these rights.
Because we do not sell or share personal information, there is nothing for you to opt out of on that front — but you are welcome to confirm that with us.
Some information we are required to keep even if you ask us to delete it — records of insurance transactions must be retained under California Department of Insurance and carrier requirements, and Medicare call recordings under CMS requirements. Where that applies, we will tell you.
To stop hearing from us: reply STOP to any text message, use the unsubscribe link in any email, or simply call and tell us. To make any other request, call or write to us using the details at the bottom of this page. We will respond within the timeframes the law requires.
How We Protect and Retain Your Information
Your information is held in access-controlled business systems protected by strong authentication, and is transmitted over encrypted connections. Only Todd and Trish have access to client records.
We retain client records for at least five years, consistent with California Department of Insurance and carrier recordkeeping requirements, and longer where a specific rule requires it. Enquiries that do not become clients are kept for a shorter period. Call recordings and transcripts are retained as described above.
Personal information collected in connection with an insurance transaction is also subject to Article 6.6 of the California Insurance Code, which governs how insurance institutions, agents, and support organizations handle it.
Cookies and Website Analytics
This site uses Google Analytics to understand how visitors find and use the site — which pages are read, how long people stay, and roughly where they are located. It does not tell us who you are.
We also use Zoho SalesIQ, the chat window in the corner of the screen. If you start a conversation there, what you type is stored with your enquiry. SalesIQ also records which pages you visited during that session.
Our web forms are hosted by Zoho Forms, which records the date, time, and IP address of each submission alongside the information you enter. For forms with a consent checkbox, that record is what evidences your consent.
We do not run advertising or retargeting pixels on this site. Most browsers let you block or delete cookies; the site will still work if you do, though the chat window may not.
Children
This website is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18 through it. Where a policy covers dependent children, we collect their details from the parent or guardian applying for coverage, or from their employer where the coverage is through a group plan.
Changes to This Policy
If we change how we handle personal information, we will update this page and change the date at the top. Material changes affecting existing clients will be communicated directly.
Contact Us
Questions about this policy, or any request about your information, can be directed to our office:
TheBenefits.Guru Insurance Services
221 N. 3rd Street, Suite 364, Burbank, CA 91502
818-253-1736
Agency Lic. #0I36052