Aetna and The Saint Barnabas Health Care System Team Up on Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Educational Campaign.

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Aetna (NYSE: AET) and The Saint Barnabas Health Care System are collaborating to provide a series of free educational workshops to help residents of Ocean and Essex Counties understand the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. Beginning on November 1st, Aetna and The Saint Barnabas Health Care System will host a number of workshops at various medical centers within The Saint Barnabas Health Care System. These educational workshops will provide consumers with a convenient opportunity to learn about the Medicare benefit through the community hospitals they already know and trust. Individual questions will be answered by Aetna specialists who have experience effectively communicating with Medicare beneficiaries.

"We have collaborated with Aetna to provide consumers with information to improve their health and maximize their health benefits," said Ronald J. Del Mauro, SBHCS President and CEO. "Residents of our communities are asking about the new Medicare benefits, and we have responded by working with Aetna to offer workshops designed to be fun as well as informative. Anticipating the success of these first workshops, Aetna and The Saint Barnabas Health Care System expect to partner on future workshops addressing a host of topical health care issues."

"Aetna is delighted to be working with The Saint Barnabas Health Care System in reaching out to the community through these educational workshops," said Gary Thomas, Aetna Medicare's general manager in the Northeast. "Our collaboration sends an important message that insurers, hospitals and physicians are equally committed to helping Medicare beneficiaries make the most of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. Moreover, we both fully realize that Medicare consumers will need support as they review their wealth of new options. Workshop participants will learn how the new benefit works and what their available options are. They will also learn what questions to ask in order to pick the option that best meets their individual needs."

The new Medicare Part D plans, created as part of the Medicare Modernization Act, provide Medicare beneficiaries with an unprecedented level of coverage for their prescription drug costs beginning January 1, 2006. Aetna is offering three standalone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans; Aetna Medicare Rx Essentials(SM) Plan, which offers the equivalent to standard Part D benefits, and two enhanced options, Aetna Medicare Rx Plus(SM) Plan and Aetna Medicare Rx Premier(SM)Plan. Monthly premiums for Aetna's three New Jersey plans will range from $33.25 to $59.95. Zero-premium plan options that integrate the Medicare prescription drug coverage with existing Medicare Advantage plans will also be available. Additionally, Aetna will be offering a regional Medicare PPO plan in the New Jersey region in 2006.

The Saint Barnabas Health Care System is New Jersey's largest health care delivery system. The System includes more than 22,000 employees (second largest private employer in the state), 4,750 physicians (one-fourth of the state's practicing physicians) and 443 residents who provide treatment and services for more than two million patients annually: 225,000 inpatients and the same number of surgery patients, 450,000 Emergency Department patients, over 1.5 million outpatients, and 17,500 births.

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 14.65 million medical members, 13.03 million dental members, 9.34 million pharmacy members and 13.67 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 700,000 health care professionals, including over 418,000 primary care and specialist doctors and 4,231 hospitals. For more information, please visit www.aetna.com. (Figures as of September 30, 2005)