Health Net of the Northeast Appoints Donald R. Shassian as Chief Financial Officer.

SHELTON, Conn. -- Donald R. Shassian has been named chief financial officer (CFO) for Health Net of the Northeast, an 830,000-member health plan serving the New York tri-state region. Shassian brings more than 25 years of financial leadership to Health Net as it prepares for renewed growth.

"Don brings a solid foundation of financial and management experience that will be critical as we strive to attain a leadership position in the marketplace," said Steven H. Nelson, president, Health Net of the Northeast. "Working with us for the past eight months Don has strengthened our financial discipline by improving analytics and business controls essential to our success."

Shassian, 50, is a former partner with Arthur Andersen, former CFO of Southern New England Telecommunications Corporation (prior to its acquisition by SBC Communications), and former COO and CFO of RSL Communications. He has been providing financial advisory and consulting services to a variety of companies the past five years, including SBC Communications, Consolidated Communications and, most recently, Health Net of the Northeast.

He earned his bachelor's in Business Administration from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania and is a Certified Public Accountant in Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania. Currently, he lives in Westchester, NY.

About Health Net

Health Net of the Northeast, Inc., headquartered in Shelton, Conn., employs approximately 1,800 associates in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. Health Net of the Northeast, through its subsidiaries, offers full-service health plans that serve nearly one million members in the tri-state area. The Northeast health plans offer a wide array of products including: Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), Point-of-Service (POS), Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), third-party administration, Medicare and Medicaid. With a physician network comprising more than 90,000 physician and provider office locations, Health Net is one of the largest health plans in the northeast, offering a full array of open-access products and coordination for multi-region employers.

Health Net of the Northeast is a subsidiary of Health Net, Inc. (NYSE:HNT). Health Net, Inc. is among the nation's largest publicly traded managed health care companies. Its mission is to help people be healthy, secure and comfortable. The company's HMO, POS, insured PPO and government contracts subsidiaries provide health benefits to approximately 6.4 million individuals in 27 states and the District of Columbia through group, individual, Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE programs. Health Net's behavioral health subsidiary, MHN, provides mental health benefits to approximately 7.3 million individuals in all 50 states. The company's subsidiaries also offer managed health care products related to prescription drugs, and offer managed health care product coordination for multi-region employers and administrative services for medical groups and self-funded benefits programs.

For more information on Health Net, Inc., please visit the company's Web site at www.healthnet.com.

Cautionary Statements

Certain matters discussed in this release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical information provided herein, may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's analysis, judgment, belief and expectation only as of the date hereof, and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Without limiting the foregoing, the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "may," "should," "could," "estimate," "intend" and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially due to, among other things, rising health care costs, negative prior period claims reserve developments, trends in medical care ratios, issues relating to provider contracts, operational issues, health care reform and general business conditions. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the risks discussed in the "Risk Factors" section included within the company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and the risks discussed in the company's other periodic filings with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date of this release.