The adoption of the new standard will have a material impact to our opening balance sheet as of January 1, 2016 due to the cumulative effect of adopting the standard using the full retrospective method. In addition, our adoption of the new standard will have a material impact on our commission revenue and, as a result, on our consolidated balance sheets and consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss) as of and for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2017. Under the new standard, since our services associated with Medicare-related, individual and family and ancillary health insurance plans are complete once an application is approved by a carrier, we will recognize Medicare-related, individual and family and ancillary health insurance plan commission revenue at the time the plan is approved by the carrier equal to the estimated commissions we expect to collect on the plan. The estimated commissions we expect to collect on a plan and that we will recognize as revenue upon approval of the application will vary based on product type and other factors, such as the estimated commission rates and the estimated life of the respective policies. These estimates will change with our actual experience after adoption. We are still in the process of finalizing our estimates by product type. Due to annual services we provide in renewing small business health insurance plans, we expect to recognize small business health insurance plan commission revenue at the time the plan is approved by the carrier, and when it renews each year thereafter, equal to the estimated commissions we expect to collect from the plan over the following 12-months. We have reviewed our contracts with our customers, the carriers whose plans we sell, and determined that we do not incur incremental costs when we enter into new contracts with carriers; therefore, we do not expect to capitalize contract acquisition costs as a result of the adoption of the new standard. The new standard will require us to make significant estimates, including, but not limited to, the estimated consideration to be paid to us over the estimated life of plans approved by carriers, or the following 12 months for small business health insurance plans, for which we are the broker of record. In addition, we are in the process of assessing the impact the adoption of the new standard will have on our accounting for income taxes. Our adoption of the new standard will also significantly change the seasonality of our revenues, primarily with respect to our Medicare-related, individual and family and ancillary health insurance plan commission revenue. Under Topic 606, we expect to recognize significantly lower commission revenue in the first quarter of each year when we have historically recognized commission revenue from Medicare-related renewals and expect to instead record significantly greater commission revenue in the fourth quarter of each year as a result of the increase in approved plans we experience during the fourth quarter annual and open enrollment periods.
We rely on all of our health insurance carriers to report accurately and in a timely manner the amount of commissions earned by us, and we calculate our commission revenue, prepare our financial reports, projections and budgets, and direct our marketing and other operating efforts based on the reports we receive from them. Each month we analyze the reports we receive from health insurance carriers by comparing them to the database we maintain on our members. It is often difficult for us to independently determine whether or not carriers are reporting all commissions due to us, primarily because members on Medicare-related, individual and family, small business and ancillary health insurance policies terminate their policies either by contacting the carrier directly instead of by informing us of the cancellation or by discontinuing their premium payments to the carrier. Also, some of our individual, family and small business members pay their premiums less frequently than monthly. This results in our having to identify underpayment or non-payment of commissions on a policy and follow up with a carrier to obtain an explanation and/or request correction of the amount of commissions paid to us.
Assessing the realizability of our deferred tax assets is dependent upon several factors, including the likelihood and amount, if any, of future taxable income in relevant jurisdictions during the periods in which those temporary differences become deductible. We forecast taxable income by considering all available positive and negative evidence, including our history of operating income and losses and our financial plans and estimates that we use to manage the business. These assumptions require significant judgment about future taxable income. As at the year ended December 31, 2017, we maintained a full valuation allowance against our federal and state deferred tax assets. Any future change in the valuation allowance could have an effect on the income tax provision in our Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Loss.
Revenue from our Medicare segment increased $17.1 million, or 27%, in 2016 compared to 2015 largely attributable to a $16.8 million increase in commission revenue. The increase in commission revenue was primarily due to a 33% increase in Medicare estimated membership for the year ended December 31, 2016 compared to the year ended December 31, 2015.
Principles of Consolidation -The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of eHealth, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”).
As of December 31, 2017, expected amortization expense in future periods is as follows (in thousands):