Health Net of the Northeast Appoints Eric Kaplan as New Chief Sales Officer

SHELTON, Conn. September 21, 2005

Eric "Rick" Kaplan today was named Chief Sales Officer for Health Net of the Northeast, one of the region's largest health plans with more than 850,000 members in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. Kaplan will be responsible for all of Health Net's sales, account management and membership in the tri-state area.

"Rick is a well-known and well-respected health insurance executive with deep knowledge, experience and relationships throughout the Northeast," said Steven H. Nelson, president, Health Net of the Northeast. "His arrival at Health Net coincides with a surge in opportunities for membership growth in the region. With his strong strategic and sales leadership, market knowledge and product expertise, we expect Rick will be influential in helping us realize our goal of becoming the preferred regional health plan in the Northeast among employers and brokers."

Kaplan will focus on providing products and services directly aimed at pressing consumer-driven needs and improving the company's ability to demonstrate its cost-effective health benefit solutions. He also will provide counsel on marketing strategies to increase Health Net's visibility throughout the company's core markets.

"My primary responsibility will be to expand our market share by strengthening Health Net's competitive position and enhancing relationships with clients, brokers and consultants within the region," said Kaplan. "Health Net has a stellar reputation for best-in-class account management with high quality products and services. I look forward to being a part of this outstanding team."

In March, Health Net promoted Paul Lambdin, former chief sales officer, to chief commercial officer. In this expanded role reporting to the plan president, Lambdin is responsible for strategy development and business plan execution and profitability of all commercial lines of business.

Kaplan has more than 20 years of experience driving profitable growth for health plans both nationally and in the northeast. Prior to joining Health Net, he was a vice president of Sales and Client Management for Trustmark Insurance Company and their national TPA, CoreSource, where he was instrumental in driving the turnaround of the company's Group division. Kaplan also was vice president, PPO product management for Cigna Healthcare, where he oversaw 10 health plans with 3.3 million PPO members. In addition, he was head of sales, account management and marketing for Connecticare, Inc. During his tenure, he doubled membership and revenue, while achieving over 90 percent employer satisfaction rate.

Kaplan earned his master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Connecticut and his bachelor's of science from Boston College. He resides in Glastonbury, Conn.

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 services subsidiary, MHN, provides behavioral health, substance abuse and employee assistance programs (EAPs) to approximately 7.4 million individuals in various states, including the company's own health plan members. 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.

CONTACT:

Health Net
Marian Cutler
973-517-0519
marian.cutler@healthnet.com or

Alice Ferreira
alice.ferreira@healthnet.com