Health Net Terminates Agreements with Six Tenet Healthcare Hospitals in Southern California

LOS ANGELES - Health Net, Inc. (NYSE: HNT) today announced that its subsidiaries exercised their contractual option to terminate agreements with all six of Tenet Healthcare’s Southern California hospitals.

The terminations were effective midnight on Dec. 21, 2012. The facilities are: Desert Regional Medical Center, Fountain Valley Hospital and Medical Center, John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, Lakewood Regional Medical Center, Los Alamitos Medical Center and Placentia Linda Hospital.

“The decision to proceed with the termination process was difficult,” said Steve Sell, president of Health Net’s Western Region Health Plan. “We had no choice, however, as Tenet Healthcare has refused our requests to negotiate a new contract that more accurately reflects current statewide market conditions.”

Health Net and Tenet Healthcare were nearing the end of a three-year contract. Health Net believes Tenet’s reimbursement should be in line with the medical consumer price index, which currently averages more than 3 percent, and that reimbursement for state- and federally funded programs like Medi-Cal needs to be consistent with the funding for those programs. In recent discussions for a new contract, Health Net and Tenet have been unsuccessful in reaching agreement on reimbursement amounts.

“Our goal is to help preserve affordable benefits for our customers, not pass along inflated health care costs,” said Sell.

Health Net members, employers, brokers, and consultants will receive further information in the coming weeks. Health Net commercial members with questions may call our Customer Service Department at 1-800-522-0088. Medicare members with questions may call 1-800-275-4737. Medi-Cal and Cal-Optima members may contact 800-641-7761. Employers, brokers, and consultants with questions should contact their Health Net representative.

About Health Net
Health Net, Inc. is a publicly traded managed care organization that delivers managed health care services through health plans and government-sponsored managed care plans. Its mission is to help people be healthy, secure and comfortable. Health Net, through its subsidiaries, provides and administers health benefits to approximately 5.4 million individuals across the country through group, individual, Medicare (including the Medicare prescription drug benefit commonly referred to as “Part D”), Medicaid, U.S. Department of Defense, including TRICARE, and Veterans Affairs programs. Health Net’s behavioral health services subsidiary, Managed Health Network, Inc., provides behavioral health, substance abuse and employee assistance programs to approximately 4.9 million individuals, including Health Net’s own health plan members. Health Net’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 Health Net’s website at www.healthnet.com.

Cautionary Statements
Health Net, Inc. and its representatives may from time to time make written and oral forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (“PSLRA”) of 1995, including statements in this and other press releases, in presentations, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), reports to stockholders and in meetings with investors and analysts. All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical information provided herein, may be deemed to be forward-looking statements and as such are intended to be covered by the safe harbor for “forward-looking statements” provided by PSLRA. These statements are based on management’s analysis, judgment, belief and expectation only as of the date hereof, and are subject to changes in circumstances and a number of risks and uncertainties. Without limiting the foregoing, statements including the words “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “may,” “should,” “could,” “estimate,” “intend,” “feels,” “will,” “projects” and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by the forward-looking information and statements due to, among other things, health care reform and other increased government participation in and regulation of health benefits and managed care operations, including the ultimate impact of the Affordable Care Act, which could materially adversely affect Health Net’s financial condition, results of operations and cash flows through, among other things, reduced revenues, new taxes, expanded liability, and increased costs (including medical, administrative, technology or other costs), or require changes to the ways in which Health Net does business; rising health care costs; continued slow economic growth or a further decline in the economy; negative prior period claims reserve developments; trends in medical care ratios; membership declines; unexpected utilization patterns or unexpectedly severe or widespread illnesses; rate cuts and other risks and uncertainties affecting Health Net’s Medicare or Medicaid businesses; Health Net’s ability to successfully participate in the dual-eligibles pilot programs; litigation costs; regulatory issues with federal and state agencies including, but not limited to, the California Department of Managed Health Care, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and state departments of insurance; operational issues; failure to effectively oversee our third-party vendors; noncompliance by Health Net or Health Net’s business associates with any privacy laws or any security breach involving the misappropriation, loss or other unauthorized use or disclosure of confidential information; liabilities incurred in connection with Health Net’s divested operations; impairment of Health Net’s goodwill or other intangible assets; investment portfolio impairment charges; volatility in the financial markets; and general business and market 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 Health Net’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC, and the other risks discussed in Health Net’s filings with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Except as may be required by law, Health Net undertakes no obligation to address or publicly update any of its forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date of this release.