Health Net and Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles Address Health Care Gap among Latinos; First-Ever Cross-Border Plans for Individuals and Families

The Mexi-Plan program and the Health Net Cross-Border Individualand Family Plans are the first-ever cross-border health care plansavailable to individual consumers who purchase benefits directly frominsurers. Both are part of Salud con Health Net, Health Net'sgroundbreaking initiative providing health care coverage and financialsecurity to the Latino community.

Mexi-Plan was developed through a unique collaboration betweenHealth Net and the Mexican Consulate General in Los Angeles to respondto the health care needs of Mexican immigrants who reside in LosAngeles, Orange and Ventura counties. It is one of five Health Netcross-border plans for individuals and their families.

"Our priority is to help the Mexican immigrant community in theU.S. get the information and resources they need to improve theirquality of life," said Mexican Consul General Ruben Beltran. "Wecongratulate Health Net for launching Mexi-Plan, and we are confidentthat this will help eliminate two main obstacles to accessing healthcare: high cost and limited coverage."

Nearly half of California's Latinos work for small employers whocannot afford to provide health insurance benefits. As a result, morethan 2 million are uninsured in Southern California.

"Health Net is committed to creating products and services thatare relevant to the Latino community in California," said Ana Andrade,vice president of Latino Programs. "The new Mexi-Plan and thecross-border offering for individuals provide affordable access tocare for families that do not have health care coverage throughemployers. These programs strengthen the Salud con Health Netinitiative, which is a major private-sector solution addressing thehigh rates of the uninsured and underinsured in the Latino community."

Studies show that more than 600,000 of Los Angeles County's 4.2million Latinos visit Mexico for their health care. Salud con HealthNet offers access to more than 200 doctors in the Sistemas MedicosNacionales, S.A. de C.V. (SIMNSA) provider network in Mexico and 1,700doctors in California who provide quality care, understand the uniqueneeds of the Latino patient and can communicate in-language. SIMNSA isthe only Mexican health plan licensed by the California Department ofManaged Health Care.

"Both my wife and I are covered through my employer with the Saludcon Health Net HMO and we've been very pleased with our plan," saidplan member Salvador Ramos. "Health Net's cross-border health plansprovide families like ours with options that make sense because theyare affordable and provide us with access to medical professionals whounderstand our culture and speak our language."

As California's largest bank, Bank of America recognizes theimportance of addressing the financial, as well as the physical,health of Latino families.

"We commend the Los Angeles Mexican Consulate for providing ourgrowing Hispanic community in California with much-needed health careservices," said Marcos Rosenberg, senior vice president, HispanicChecking Executive, Bank of America. "We look forward to watching theMexi-Plan grow as it continues to focus on education and otherfundamental services to help Hispanic families protect their homes,businesses and savings."

Mexi-Plan is offered by Health Net Life Insurance Company, asubsidiary of Health Net of California. Health Net of California is asubsidiary of Health Net, Inc. (NYSE:HNT), among the nation's largestpublicly traded health care companies. With affordable cost and healthcare provider networks on both sides of the border, businesses canoffer Mexi-Plan and other Health Net Cross-Border Individual andFamily Plans coverage for their employees and their families in bothCalifornia and Mexico. Coverage in Mexico is provided through SistemasMedicos Nacionales, S.A. de C.V. (SIMNSA), the only Mexican healthplan licensed by the state of California. For more information,employers may call Health Net's enrollment line at 1-800-600-8441 andbrokers may call Health Net Broker Relations at 1-800-448-4411, option4.

Certain matters discussed in this release contain forward-lookingstatements within the meaning of Section 21E of the SecuritiesExchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the SecuritiesAct of 1933, as amended, that involve risks and uncertainties. Allstatements other than statements of historical information providedherein may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Thesestatements are based on management's analysis, judgment, belief andexpectation only as of the date hereof, and are subject to uncertaintyand changes in circumstances. Without limiting the foregoing, thewords "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "may," "should,""could," "estimate," "intend" and other similar expressions areintended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results coulddiffer materially due to, among other things, rising health carecosts, trends in medical care ratios, operational issues, health carereform and general business conditions. Additional factors that couldcause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in theforward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the risksdiscussed in the "Risk Factors" section included within the company'smost recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and therisks discussed in the company's other periodic filings with the SEC.Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on theseforward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation topublicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events orcircumstances that arise after the date of this release.