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UICI (ticker: UCI, exchange: New York Stock Exchange (.N)) News Release - 14-Mar-2006

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 14, 2006--William J. Gedwed, chairman, president and CEO of UICI (NYSE:UCI), parent company of HealthMarket, is scheduled to testify before Congress Wednesday on price transparency in the health care industry.

Mr. Gedwed will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Health. The hearing, at 10 a.m. Wednesday, 2123 Rayburn House Office Building, is entitled: "What's The Cost?: Proposals to Provide Consumers With Better Information About Healthcare Service Costs."

"One reason health care costs continue to skyrocket every year is clear: Consumers typically don't know how much health care costs and they have no way to comparison shop for the best value," Gedwed said. "At HealthMarket, we offer a radical idea. Why not let consumers actually see and compare what different doctors and hospitals will cost the consumer - ahead of time?"

HealthMarket's award-winning, Web-based tools "have solved the problem of price transparency in health care," according to John C. Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis. "This is a key achievement on the road toward empowering health care consumers."

HealthMarket plans are available in a dozen states, with another five states currently pending. We sell them to small businesses, individuals and families who do not have access to a traditional plan subsidized by a large employer. As President Bush has noted, more than half of the 45 million uninsured Americans work for small businesses.

By logging into HealthMarket.com or speaking with a customer service representative, HealthMarket members have unparalleled access to benefits and information, including:

• Access to detailed information on some 430,000 medical professionals, 4,000 hospitals and medical centers, and 26,000 other resources such as labs, MRI centers, medical equipment providers and home health care centers.
• Price transparency not for just 25 or 30 procedures, but for virtually every procedure and supply code imaginable - more than 20,000 procedures or services in all, from the cost of a routine office visit to a specialist visit to knee surgery.
• Best in class quality indicators on doctors and hospitals across the country.

About HealthMarket(R) and UICI

HealthMarket Consumer Driven Health Plans are underwritten by The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of UICI. For more information concerning HealthMarket Consumer Driven Health Plans, please visit www.healthmarket.com. UICI (headquartered in North Richland Hills, Texas) through its subsidiaries offers insurance (primarily health and life) to niche consumer and institutional markets, including the self-employed, student and voluntary group markets. Through its consumer driven insurance plans, UICI seeks to provide affordable and accessible health coverage to individuals and small businesses. For more information, visit www.uici.net.

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 with respect to UICI 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 the risk factors set forth in the reports filed by UICI with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT: UICI
Donna Ledbetter, 817-255-5404
Donna.Ledbetter@uici.net or
for UICI / HealthMarket
Doug Holt, 312-927-6933
Doug_Holt@chi.bm.com
SOURCE: UICI

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About HealthMarkets

HealthMarkets, headquartered in North Richland Hills, Texas, is a provider of health and life insurance products to individuals, families, the self-employed, Medicare beneficiaries 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.

Media Contacts:

Donna Ledbetter
HealthMarkets Corporate Communications
(817) 255-5405
Donna.Ledbetter@healthmarkets.com
www.HealthMarkets.com

Karen Mellen
For HealthMarkets
(312) 596-3487
Karen.Mellen@bm.com