Aetna Signs Contract with Virginia Hospital Center.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- Aetna (NYSE: AET) announced today that it has signed a five-year contract that extends the company's relationship with the Virginia Hospital Center, located in Arlington, Va.

"For several years, Virginia Hospital Center has been a key part of Aetna's network of hospitals and health care providers in Northern Virginia," said Aetna's Bill Stout, who is head of network operations for Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. "As we continue growing our business in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area, we're happy to know that our members will have continued access to Virginia Hospital Center's medical services."

Under the contract, which takes effect May 15, Aetna members in Northern Virginia may continue receiving covered in-patient and out-patient services, at in-network rates, from Virginia Hospital Center.

"We are committed to providing the best possible patient care and believe that our relationship with Aetna is a way of serving our patients," said Jim Cole, president and chief executive officer of Virginia Hospital Center. "We are very pleased that physicians who participate with Aetna can continue to send their patients to Virginia Hospital Center. Employers in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area can take comfort knowing that their Aetna-insured employees can continue to receive excellent care at Virginia Hospital Center."

For over 60 years, Virginia Hospital Center has provided exceptional medical services to the Washington metropolitan area. In November, Virginia Hospital Center celebrated the grand opening of a new $150 million state-of-the-art facility. Virginia Hospital Center offers comprehensive health care and multiple centers of excellence, including cardiology and cardiovascular surgery; oncology; and women and infants health. Growing service lines include neuroscience and the only lung cancer Center in Northern Virginia.

Virginia Hospital Center is a teaching hospital, long associated with Georgetown University's School of Medicine, and accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Health. For additional information, please visit www.virginiahospitalcenter.com

Aetna provides health benefits to approximately 425,000 members in Virginia. The company's Northern Virginia members have access to a contracted network of 12 hospitals, 862 primary care physicians and 3,394 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)