Aetna Awarded Contract For CHIP And Medicaid Business For Tarrant and Bexar Service Areas in Texas.

DALLAS -- Aetna (NYSE:AET) announced today that it has been awarded the contract for Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicaid business in the Tarrant (Ft. Worth) and Bexar (San Antonio), Texas, service areas, pending final regulatory approval. The company was notified of the award by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), and final contract terms still need to be negotiated. Once finalized, the contracts are expected to be effective July 2006.

"Being awarded this business is a meaningful win for Aetna. Our Medicaid and CHIP Services unit is dedicated to helping find solutions for uninsured Americans, almost five million of whom live in Texas," said Anne Rote, head of Medicaid and CHIP Services for Aetna. "By expanding our participation in the Medicaid and CHIP programs in these two areas, we believe that we are increasing the impact we can make on improving access to health care for underserved people in these communities."

Medicaid is a state-funded program that primarily provides health care services to low-income individuals. CHIP is a state program for children under the age of 19 whose family's income is too great for Medicaid, yet the family is unable to afford any other type of health insurance.

Aetna was selected as one of three plans chosen to provide Medicaid and CHIP services in the Bexar and Tarrant service areas, based on the capabilities of its network as well as the company's experience serving the Medicaid and CHIP population. To manage the new business, the company is expected to increase the number of employees in its Medicaid and CHIP Services unit in Texas. According to Rote, "To handle this work, we intend to hire additional employees in Dallas, and possibly in the Ft. Worth and San Antonio areas as well."

Currently, the Bexar service area has approximately 160,000 Medicaid-eligible and 26,000 CHIP-eligible individuals. In the Tarrant service area, there are approximately 128,800 Medicaid-eligible individuals and 27,000 CHIP-eligible children and teens.

Aetna is a participant in CHIP in Pennsylvania, where it has approximately 19,000 members, and also serves as the program administrator for the Medicaid and CHIP products for Parkland Community Health Plan in the Dallas service area.

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)