WellPoint Announces Acquisition of DeCare Dental 
Acquisition Will Provide Market-Leading Dental Tools and Services to WellPoint Members 

INDIANAPOLIS, April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE:WLP) , the nation's largest health benefits company, today announced the acquisition of DeCare Dental, one of the country's largest administrators of dental benefit plans. DeCare, a Minneapolis-based company, manages four million members representing 21,000 group customers. The acquisition of DeCare enhances WellPoint's ability to offer dental products that balance affordability and access, drawing upon DeCare's expertise in dental analytics and operations.

   "The acquisition of DeCare builds upon a core focus of WellPoint which is to continually provide our members with innovative and industry-leading products," said Angela F. Braly, president and CEO of WellPoint. "DeCare has clearly emerged as a leader in administering dental benefits. Their unique tools and services and exceptional management team will enhance WellPoint's ability to provide affordable, high-quality dental benefits to our members nationwide."

   "DeCare is excited to join a company that has a unique market position of having both national scale and strong local depth," said Michael Walsh, president and CEO of DeCare. "Our employees will be able to serve a much larger population of dental and medical members, executing on our mission to serve the oral health needs of our communities."

   Upon completion of the acquisition, WellPoint will become one of the largest providers and administrators of dental benefits in the country with significant growth opportunities nationwide. Both WellPoint and DeCare will continue to service their current clients while both dental organizations are integrated. The combination of WellPoint and DeCare creates even greater opportunities to improve the health of their members by providing innovative tools and health information.

   "Research has shown a linkage between poor oral health and serious medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and increased risk of pre-term low birth weight babies," said Dennis Casey, President and CEO of WellPoint's UniCare and Specialty businesses. "An integrated health benefits plan that includes medical and dental coverage provides consumers with important preventative services that focus on overall well-being and good health."

   DeCare currently serves 10 dental plans, primarily as a third party administrator. DeCare also operates DeCare Systems Ireland (DSI), which offers custom enterprise software solutions, e-business applications and application performance tuning and is also the first American company to offer dental benefits in Ireland as Vhi DeCare Dental.

   Upon the completion of the acquisition, WellPoint's dental company will provide and administer dental benefits to 9 million members and have one of the nation's largest dental PPO networks.