Aetna, Abington Memorial Hospital Sign Contract.

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. -- Aetna (NYSE: AET) announced today that it has reached agreement on a multi-year contract renewal with Abington Memorial Hospital, continuing its long-standing relationship with the Montgomery County, Pa. hospital.

"Aetna has enjoyed a productive, mutually beneficial arrangement with Abington Memorial Hospital for several years," said Mike Ungvary, head of network operations for Aetna in Pennsylvania. "The hospital has been an integral component of our suburban Philadelphia network, and we're extremely pleased that our relationship will continue."

Under the contract, Aetna members in the area may receive covered in-patient and out-patient services, at in-network rates, from Abington Memorial Hospital.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement on a multi-year contract with Aetna," said Richard L. Jones Jr., president and chief executive officer, Abington Memorial Hospital. Together, we will continue to provide Aetna subscribers in our community with quality health care for years to come."

Abington Memorial Hospital is a 508-bed, regional acute care hospital with a medical staff of more than 600 physicians and 5,000 employees. These professionals provide medical care and services to residents of Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. A regional provider, Abington Memorial Hospital has the only Level II accredited trauma center in Montgomery County and offers highly specialized services in cardiac care, cancer care, maternal child health and orthopedics.

Aetna provides health benefits to more than 800,000 members in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Members in the Philadelphia area have access to a contracted network of 58 hospitals, 2,938 primary care physicians and 7,671 specialists.

As one of the nation's leading providers of health care, dental, pharmacy, group life, disability and long-term care benefits, Aetna puts information and helpful resources to work for its approximately 14.4 million medical members, 12.8 million dental members, 9.0 million pharmacy members and 14.0 million group insurance members to help them make better informed decisions about their health care and protect their finances against health-related risks. Aetna provides easy access to cost-effective health care through a nationwide network of more than 672,000 health care professionals, including approximately 400,000 primary care and specialist doctors and 4,084 hospitals. For more information, please visit www.aetna.com. (Figures as of March 31, 2005)