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CareOne Offers Unrivaled Price and Quality Information for Individual Market

North Richland Hills, Texas – January 8, 2007 – HealthMarkets, Inc., a leading provider of affordable health and life insurance to individuals, the self-employed and small businesses, announced today that it is introducing new consumer guided health insurance products in Georgia, through its indirect subsidiary The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company, that include the company’s industry-leading Web based price and quality transparency tools.

At a time of rising health care prices, the MEGA’s CareOne Select, plans offer a new approach to health care, enabling consumers to better understand the likely cost of health care services before receiving them. The plans are geared for people who pay 100 percent of their health insurance premiums because they buy as individuals, rather than as members of an employer-sponsored plan.

“No one would consider spending money on a car, computer or an appliance without having any idea of the cost,” said Peter Gaillard, senior vice president of Product Development, HealthMarkets. “The CareOne Select plans and tools provide consumers with access to information that allows them to make more informed choices about health care and to better manage their out-of-pocket expenses.”

With these plans, consumers have access to the company’s price and quality transparency tools that provide relative cost information for more than 450,000 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. These tools enable consumers to estimate their out-of-pocket expenses relative to their specific plan benefits. HealthMarkets tools also provide relative cost information for more than 20,000 procedures and services, from a routine check-up to a consultation with a specialist to a surgical procedure.

CareOne Select plans are part of a suite of products offering consumers options regarding their health insurance plans. CareOne Plus plans offer a more traditional PPO-style plan. CareOne Value plans are designed to fit limited budgets.

“We have experienced positive adoption rate of the CareOne suite of products in several markets since its launch this year,” said Gaillard. “We are confident that Georgia residents will benefit from the value these plans offer.”

CareOne Select Plans with online transparency tools are currently available in eight states: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi and Texas. They are offered through The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of HealthMarkets, Inc.

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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