August 07, 2008 01:30 PM Eastern Time 

HealthMarkets Strengthens Human Resources Department

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HealthMarkets, Inc. (http://www.healthmarkets.com) announced today that Vicki Cansler has joined the Company as Senior Vice President of Human Resources. Cansler's position with HealthMarkets adds a new layer of leadership in this area of the Company.

HealthMarkets is a leading provider of affordable health and life insurance to the self-employed, individuals and small businesses through its subsidiaries, The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company, Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee and The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company.

"We believe in investing in our employees and the systems and processes that promote personal and professional growth," said Phillip J. Hildebrand, HealthMarkets Chief Executive Officer. "Vicki has a wealth of experience building talent within organizations in the health care industry. We believe she will provide the leadership necessary to design and implement programs that attract, develop and retain highly motivated employees at every level of the Company."

Before coming to HealthMarkets, Cansler served as Senior Vice President of People Services at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee in Chattanooga. Prior to that, she was Principal, Global Director of Human Resources for Booz, Allen & Hamilton in the Washington D.C. area. Before joining Booz Allen, Ms. Cansler spent more than four years in strategic Human Resources consulting in the health care industry for Deloitte. Ms. Cansler spent more than a decade at CIGNA HealthCare in various senior Human Resources leadership positions.

Cansler graduated from the University of Louisiana at Monroe with a B.A. and was awarded an MBA from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas. Ms. Cansler has served on boards at READ Chattanooga and the Graduate School of Management, University of Dallas Human Resources Curricula Review.

About HealthMarkets

HealthMarkets, headquartered in North Richland Hills, Texas, is a provider of health and life insurance products to individuals, families, the self-employed and small businesses. HealthMarkets offers products and services through its licensed insurance subsidiaries The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company, Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee and The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company. The Company’s offerings include individual and self-employed health insurance, small employer group health insurance, life insurance and reinsurance. Through its Consumer Guided Health Insurance plans, HealthMarkets seeks to provide affordable and accessible health coverage to individuals and small businesses. The Company is owned by a group of private equity investors, including affiliates of The Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, members of management and the Company’s independent, licensed agents through the Company’s agent stock accumulation plans. For more information, visit http://www.healthmarkets.com.

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: Some of the matters discussed in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements are intended to be identified in this document by the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "objective," "plan," "possible," "potential" and similar expressions. Actual results may vary materially from those included in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions; the continued ability of the Company to compete for customers and insureds in an industry where many of its competitors may have greater market share and/or greater financial resources; the Company’s ability to accurately estimate medical claims and control costs; changes in government regulation that could increase the costs of compliance or cause the Company to discontinue marketing its products in certain states; the Company’s failure to comply with new or existing government regulations that could subject it to significant fines and penalties and/or result in restrictions on its operations; changes in the relationship between the Company and the membership associations that make available to their members the health insurance and other insurance products issued by the Company’s insurance subsidiaries; changes in the laws and regulations governing so-called “association group” insurance (particularly changes that would subject the issuance of policies to prior premium rate approval and/or require the issuance of policies on a “guaranteed issue” basis); significant liabilities and costs associated with litigation; failure of the Company’s information systems to provide timely and accurate information; negative publicity regarding the Company’s business practices and/or regarding the health insurance industry in general; the Company’s inability to enter into or maintain satisfactory relationships with networks of hospitals, physicians, dentists, pharmacies and other health care providers; failure of the Company’s regulated insurance company subsidiaries to maintain their current ratings by A.M. Best Company, Fitch and/or Standard & Poor’s; and the other risk factors set forth in the reports filed by the Company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.