New dental insurance products from HealthMarkets' subsidiary are available in 26 states
North Richland Hills, Texas – October 17, 2008 – HealthMarkets, Inc. (http://www.healthmarkets.com) announced today that its subsidiary, The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company, has introduced a new suite of dental insurance products for individuals of all ages in 26 states.
HealthMarkets, through its insurance subsidiaries, is a provider of health insurance products for the self-employed, individuals and families and small businesses.
"Good dental health is an important part of everyone's overall health but often it goes overlooked as people budget for health care," said Phillip J. Hildebrand, HealthMarkets President and Chief Executive Officer. "We are excited to offer these products because they were developed to provide coverage that reflects currently recommended dental care patterns as well as the needs of today's consumers."
The products offer three levels of coverage and do not require the applicant to purchase a health plan or have an association membership. Features of the products include 100% in-network coverage for preventative dental services, orthodontic coverage, lifetime deductibles and online consumer tools. All products are integrated with a national dental Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) that includes 62,000 dentists.
Currently the plans are available in Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Virginia, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming. The plans will become available in South Carolina and Texas on October 27, 2008. HealthMarkets anticipates the plans will offered in an additional 15 states in 2009.
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About HealthMarkets
HealthMarkets, headquartered in North Richland Hills, Texas, is a provider of health 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 and reinsurance. 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.
