Aetna Honors Mid-Atlantic Region Small Businesses of the Year; Aetna to Donate $10,000 to Pennsylvania and Virginia Charities.

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. -- Fifth graph, first sentence of release should read: ProSearch, nominated by Ron Flaherty of Liberty Benefits (sted ProSearch, nominated by xx of Liberty Benefits).

The corrected release reads:

AETNA HONORS MID-ATLANTIC REGION SMALL BUSINESSES OF THE YEAR; AETNA TO DONATE $10,000 TO PENNSYLVANIA AND VIRGINIA CHARITIES

ProSearch, a Willow Grove, Pa.-based information technology search firm, and Children's Health Involving Parents (CHIP) of Richmond, which partners with community parents to improve the health and well-being of children, have been chosen as Aetna's Mid-Atlantic Region Small Businesses of the Year for 2004. In recognition of their business achievements and commitment to their communities, Aetna (NYSE: AET) will donate $5,000 to Project HOME of Philadelphia, on behalf of ProSearch, and $5,000 to CHIP of Richmond.

"Both ProSearch and CHIP of Richmond have demonstrated the entrepreneurial spirit, dedication to their employees and commitment to their communities that Aetna seeks to honor with its Small Business of the Year program," said Patrick Young, Aetna's general manager for small-group business in the Mid-Atlantic Region.

"We asked clients and brokers to tell us about exceptional local businesses, and each had special stories to share," Young said.

ProSearch's employee manual includes a policy on the importance of giving back to the community. The company provides financial support to the Ronald McDonald House, the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania, and Junior Achievement and to Project HOME, the recipient of the Aetna charitable donation.

ProSearch, nominated by Ron Flaherty of Liberty Benefits, organizes clothing drives three to four times a year to provide appropriate work attire or the residents of Project HOME. The company adopts a Project HOME family each Christmas, and delivers presents to them at the organization's headquarters.

Project HOME seeks to empower people to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty, to address the structural causes of poverty and to enable the people they seek to help to attain their fullest potential as individuals and members of the broader society. It achieves this through street outreach, supportive housing and comprehensive services, including health care, education and employment. It also addresses the root causes of homelessness through neighborhood revitalization programs, including affordable housing development, employment training and opportunities, adult and youth education, health care and environmental enhancement.

CHIP of Richmond, nominated by Philip Saul of Dominion Benefits, began operation in 1992 as part of the Richmond Community Action program. It provides Richmond-area families with income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level with a model home visiting service that combines nursing, counseling, self-sufficiency, training and community referral services.

Since becoming an independent, non-profit organization, CHIP has built a network of financial support, including foundation, corporate and agency partners, individual donors and in-kind partners.

Its success has been impressive. Some 96 percent of children enrolled for six months have a primary care physician, compared to 64 percent before joining CHIP. More than 90 percent of children under age six are up to date on needed immunizations, compared to 55 percent before enrolling. CHIP also has dramatically reduced the number of low birth-weight babies born to mothers in the program, and reduced emergency room episodes among asthmatic children by 82 percent.

Created to highlight the extraordinary strengths, achievements and community involvement of local small businesses, Aetna's Small Business of the Year contest is open to organizations that currently offer an Aetna Small Group (ASG) health benefits plan. A panel of judges considers criteria including evidence of community involvement, a unique start-up story, skill in overcoming small business challenges, and remarkable growth and profitability. Companies are nominated by Aetna customers, non-profit organizations and licensed brokers and agents selling Aetna products. After Aetna named its 2004 regional honorees, each business then selected a charity to receive a donation from Aetna directly on their behalf.

Aetna Small Group provides health and related benefits plans to meet the needs of companies with two(a) to 50 employees. Designed to provide choice, simplicity and affordability to small businesses, Aetna Small Group's products include HMO, PPO, and HSA-compatible high deductible health plans, as well as dental, life and short-term disability products, prescription drug coverage and a broad network of participating providers. ((a) one employee in some states)

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 13.6 million medical members, 11.6 million dental members, 8.3 million pharmacy members and 13.3 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 646,000 health care professionals, including over 385,000 primary care and specialist doctors and 3,908 hospitals. For more information, please visit www.aetna.com. (Figures as of September 30, 2004), please visit www.aetna.com. (Figures as of September 30, 2004)