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Press Release

North Richland Hills, Texas - May 23, 2006 -- HealthMarkets, a leading provider of affordable health insurance to the self-employed, individuals and small businesses, announced today that Asher M. Schoor has joined the Company as a Senior Vice President. In his new capacity, Mr. Schoor will have responsibility for and direct the strategic efforts and business development activities of the company.

Prior to joining HealthMarkets, Mr. Schoor was a consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he worked from 2001 until 2006. Mr. Schoor has also been involved in a number of entrepreneurial insurance ventures in the property and casualty industry. Mr. Schoor received a BS summa cum laude from Touro College in 1995. In 2001, he received a JD from New York University Law School as a Robert McKay scholar and an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business.

"Asher has been working with HealthMarkets for the better part of a year helping us create our strategic focus for the future. During this time he has come to understand our company and the challenges we face as we strive to provide affordable insurance products to our customer base," said William J. Gedwed, president and CEO for HealthMarkets. "Asher also understands the vision we have for growth in our target markets and will be a key part of our management team as we develop the strategies that will allow us to reach our goals. We are excited to add such a great talent to our senior management team."

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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