Aetna Introduces Healthy Lifestyle Coaching Program.

Relationship-driven approach encourages healthy habits

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Aetna (NYSE:AET) announced today the launch of the new Aetna Healthy Lifestyle Coaching program, the most recent addition to the Aetna Health Connections(SM) family of medical management programs and services. The high-touch, telephone-based coaching program encourages healthy living and offers one-on-one coaching sessions, educational materials, and web-based interactive tools, along with rewards and incentives. The program, which will be available April 1, 2008, can help members quit smoking, manage their weight, deal more effectively with stress and learn about proper nutrition and physical fitness.

"Aetna takes a personalized, integrated and team approach to supporting member health, and provides useful information to help members make smarter health care decisions," said, Pat Mueller, M.D., head of Medical Operations for Aetna. "The Healthy Lifestyle Coaching program applies the high-touch, personalized medical management approach we are known for in disease management to help all members - not only those identified as 'high-risk' -- improve their lifestyle and ultimately prevent illness."

The Healthy Lifestyle Coaching program offers professional health coaches to Aetna members who want to quit smoking, manage stress, get fit, or lose weight. The program is designed to engage people in their health and help them commit to a program. This is done through:

* An ongoing relationship with one coach, ensuring confidentiality and building trust

* Tools and information to help members meet their health-related goals, including educational materials and tools through Aetna's Simple Steps to a Healthier Life([R]) online health information resource

* Targeted incentives and rewards for completing certain activities or achieving specific results

Research supports the benefits of 1:1 support.

* Participants in telephone coaching adhere better to the advice and treatment prescribed by their own doctor, including pharmacotherapy.1

* Promoting self-management can improve health status and reduce health care costs in populations with diverse chronic diseases.2

Individuals living unhealthy lifestyles are at risk for certain health conditions such as obesity, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke, back pain, certain cancers, depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders.

The Aetna Healthy Lifestyle Coaching program will integrate with the Aetna Health Connections(SM) family of programs and services, which help Aetna members achieve and maintain their personal best health.

Healthy Lifestyle Coaching will be delivered through Healthyroads, Inc., a subsidiary of American Specialty Health Incorporated. American Specialty Health is one of the nation's premier health improvement organizations, providing complementary health care benefit programs, fitness programs, health coaching and incentives, Internet solutions, and worksite wellness programs to health plans, insurance carriers, employer groups, and trust funds nationwide.

Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 34.9 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life, long-term care and disability plans, and medical management capabilities and health care management services for Medicaid plans. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans and government-sponsored plans in both the U.S. and internationally. www.aetna.com

1 Vale MJ, Jelinek MV, Best JD, et. al. Coaching patients with coronary heart disease to achieve the target cholesterol: a method to bridge the gap between evidence-based medicine and the 'real world': a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 2002;55:245-252.

2 Lorig KR, Ritter P, Stewart A, Sobel D, Brown BW, Bandura A, et al. Chronic disease self-management program. 2-year health status and health care utilization outcomes. Medical Care. 2001;39(11):1217-1223.