Who we are and what this covers
SOTA Benefits, LLC (“SOTA,” “we,” “us”) designs and administers self-funded employee benefit plans and provides enrollment and member service for employers, brokers, carriers and agencies. We are based at 15915 Katy Freeway, Suite 205, Houston, Texas 77094.
This policy explains how we handle personal information collected through sotabenefits.com, our broker, employer, provider and member portals, our call center, our events, and other interactions with us.
Information we collect
Information you give us
- Contact and quote requests: your role (employer, employee, broker, provider), name, email, phone number, company, and the message you send.
- Event registrations: name, company, title and contact details.
- Portal accounts: login credentials and the account details needed to give you access.
- Calls and messages: what you share when you call our service team, enroll by phone, or text with us.
Please don’t include health details, Social Security numbers or other sensitive information in our website contact form. Call us or use your secure portal instead.
Information collected automatically
When you visit our website we collect standard technical information such as IP address, browser and device type, pages visited, referring site, and the date and time of your visit, using cookies and similar technologies (see section 5).
Information from others
To set up and service a benefit plan, we receive information about employees and dependents from employers, brokers, carriers and plan administrators. That information is used only to provide the services we were engaged for, under our agreements with them and applicable law.
How we use it
- Answer questions, prepare quotes and follow up on requests you make.
- Enroll members, administer plans and provide member and customer service.
- Run and secure our website and portals, and fix problems.
- Understand how our website is used so we can improve it.
- Send updates, event invitations and marketing to business contacts, which you can opt out of at any time.
- Detect and prevent fraud, and meet our legal, regulatory and contractual obligations.
We collect only what is reasonably necessary for these purposes, and we will ask for your consent before using personal information for a new purpose that isn’t compatible with the ones described here.
Health information and HIPAA
When we support a group health plan, we act as a business associate of that plan under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). That means:
- We use and disclose PHI only as our business associate agreements and HIPAA permit, such as for enrollment, claims, customer service and plan administration.
- We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards required by the HIPAA Security Rule, and train our team on them.
- We never sell PHI or use it for marketing without your written authorization.
- If a breach of unsecured PHI occurs, we notify the health plan so affected individuals can be told as the law requires.
To access, correct or get an accounting of disclosures of your health information, or to request a copy of the Notice of Privacy Practices, contact your health plan or call our member service team and we will help you route the request.
Calls and text messages
Calls. Calls with our service and enrollment team may be monitored or recorded for quality, training and compliance. We will tell you at the start of a recorded call.
Text messages. If you give us your mobile number and agree to receive texts, we may send messages about enrollment, your account, appointments or service. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help. Consent to texts is not a condition of any purchase or coverage.
We do not share or sell mobile numbers or text opt-in information with third parties or affiliates for their marketing purposes.
Your privacy rights
Depending on where you live, including under the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, you may have the right to:
- Confirm whether we process your personal data and get access to it.
- Correct inaccurate personal data.
- Delete personal data you provided or that we obtained about you.
- Get a portable copy of your personal data.
- Opt out of the sale of personal data, targeted advertising, and profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.
How to make a request
Email privacy@sotabenefits.com or call (346) 486-7682. We will verify your identity before acting, and you may use an authorized agent. We respond within 45 days, and may extend that once by another 45 days when reasonably necessary, letting you know why. Requests are free up to twice a year.
Appeals
If we decline your request, you can appeal by replying to our decision or emailing privacy@sotabenefits.com with “Privacy Appeal” in the subject line. We will answer within 60 days. If you disagree with the result, you can contact the Texas Attorney General.
We will never discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.
Some information is exempt from these state rights, including PHI governed by HIPAA (see section 4) and information collected about you as an employee or business contact in certain contexts.
Retention and security
We keep personal information only as long as needed for the purposes above, our contracts, and legal and regulatory record-keeping requirements, then securely delete or de-identify it.
We use administrative, technical and physical safeguards, including access controls, encryption in transit and staff training, to protect the information we hold. No system is perfectly secure, so if you believe your information has been compromised, please contact us right away.
Children
Our website is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them online. Information about dependent children enrolled in a health plan is received from the plan sponsor or parent and is protected under HIPAA. If you believe a child has given us information through our website, contact us and we will delete it.
Portals and other websites
Our broker, employer, provider and member portals are secure areas for authorized users; keep your login credentials private. Our site may link to other websites, apps or partners we don’t control. Their privacy practices are their own, so please review their policies.
Changes to this policy
We review this policy at least once a year. When we make changes we will update the date at the top of this page, and for material changes we will give more prominent notice, such as a banner on our website or an email.
Contact us
Questions about this policy or how we handle your information:
Attn: Privacy Officer
15915 Katy Freeway, Suite 205
Houston, TX 77094