Coventry Health Care Announces Senior Management Addition.

BETHESDA, Md. -- Coventry Health Care, Inc. (NYSE:CVH) today announced the hiring of John Langenus as President, National Accounts for First Health Group Corp. and Senior Vice President of Coventry. In his capacity, Mr. Langenus will oversee business operations for First Health's Corporate and Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) business.

Mr. Langenus will report directly to Thomas McDonough, Coventry President and First Health's CEO. "We are extremely pleased to add an executive of John's caliber to our senior management team," said McDonough. "Key to our alignment of First Health's five distinct business segments is having qualified leaders with clear lines of focused accountability, and John brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this role."

Most recently, Langenus has served as Executive Vice President of Evolution Benefits, a firm offering debit card technology to aid in the growing segment of consumer driven health care. Prior to that, he had a lengthy career with CIGNA and its predecessor company, Connecticut General, rising to the position of Senior Vice President of the company's National Accounts market segment. With CIGNA, he held positions in Sales and Marketing, Underwriting and Claims Administration.

"With exposure to a virtually every key category of our business, including product development and customer support, John's extensive background will help First Health build upon its excellent, existing, customer relationships," said McDonough.

Before joining CIGNA, Langenus was a captain in the United States Marine Corps. He is a graduate of Rutgers University and holds an MBA from the University of Hartford. A member of the Connecticut Judicial Review Council, Langenus also serves on the Advisory Board of the R.C. Knox Center for the Study of Insurance and Risk Management at the University of Hartford's Barney School of Business.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, relating to future events or future financial performance. Actual performance may be significantly impacted by certain risks and uncertainties, including those described in Coventry's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004.

Coventry Health Care is a national managed health care company based in Bethesda, Maryland operating health plans, insurance companies, network rental services companies, and worker's compensation services companies. Coventry provides a full range of risk and fee-based managed care products and services, including HMO, PPO, POS, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, Worker's Compensation and Network Rental to a broad cross section of employer and government-funded groups, government agencies, and other insurance carriers and administrators in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. More information is available on the Internet at www.coventryhealth.com and www.firsthealth.com.