UnitedHealthcare Responds to Support Hurricane Victims Minneapolis (August 31, 2005) – In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, UnitedHealthcare announced today that it is taking a number of steps to ensure that employers have emergency options for extending their health insurance coverage, that members have easy access to their medications, and that local communities have access to crisis support. A 24-hour crisis toll-free hotline (866-615-8700)for anyone in the Gulf Coast region affected by Hurricane Katrina, regardless of their health insurance provider, has been established to help them cope with health, emotional, financial and legal concerns. The toll-free telephone service assists with a wide range of concerns that may impact victims of natural disasters. The service will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for as long as necessary to anyone affected by the hurricane. UnitedHealthcare has acted quickly to establish a multi-million-dollar pool of emergency resources and funds to assist their customers and consumers hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina . UnitedHealthcare will use the resources to address insurance premium concerns for affected employers and their employees during this critical time. David Lewis, chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare – Gulf States stated, “Helping our customers – especially those most devastated by this hurricane – to get the health care help they need and preserve their insurance coverage is the right thing to do. Providing access to quality health care at this critical time is essential.” In addition, the company is offering deferred payment options to customers and individuals affected by Hurricane Katrina . According to Lewis, “We want to support all of our customers who are cleaning up from this devastating storm. Offering a ‘grace period’ on premiums is a small way we can help them concentrate on getting back to their regular business.” UnitedHealthcare provides emergency transportation and treats all area hospitals as participating network hospitals under existing emergency benefit provisions. This enables us to provide maximum benefit coverage for our customers. The company is also helping their members who may have lost medications in the storm and who need prescription refills to replace them quickly at local pharmacies or via mail service. Even before the hurricane hit, UnitedHealthcare began allowing members to obtain early refills and extra prescription levels in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. Local pharmacies in the affected areas have been notified about these changes. Members can call UnitedHealthcare customer care lines toll-free for help on any questions on how to replace lost prescriptions or call 1-866-615-8700. In addition, members who normally use mail pharmacy services and who are in short supply are eligible to obtain medications through their local retail pharmacy . Mail pharmacy orders are also being expedited by key zip codes to crisis areas. All mail orders for temperature-sensitive prescriptions are being assessed on a daily basis to determine appropriate and safe handling for fulfillment. Members are encouraged to call the toll-free number on their member identification cards for assistance on any questions regarding their medications, or they may call 1-866-615-8700. Companies that want to apply for emergency health insurance funds or have questions about the deferred payment plans are asked to contact their local UnitedHealthcare sales representative, or they may call 1-866-615-8700. About UnitedHealthcare(www.unitedhealthcare.com) UnitedHealthcare provides a full spectrum of consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services, helping 22 million individual consumers nationwide achieve improved health and well being through various health service systems. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH), a diversified health and well-being company dedicated to making health care work better. UnitedHealthcare – Gulf States includes Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and serves more than 700,000 people through a network of more than 12,000 physicians and 300 hospitals.

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