Size matters but not as much as you think

Projectedoperating earnings per share alsoexclude from net income any netrealized capital gains or losses andother items occurring afterSeptember 30, 2008. The Company is not able to project the amount offuture net realized capital gains orlosses or other items and cannot therefore reconcile projectedoperating earnings per share in anyperiod to projected net income per share.CAUTIONARY STATEMENT Certain information in this press release isforward-looking, including Aetnas current estimates and projections as tooperating earnings per share, 2008 pension benefit, 2009 pension expense andyear-over-year increase in pension expense. Forward-looking information is basedon management's estimates, assumptions and projections, and is subject tosignificant uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond Aetna'scontrol. Important risk factors could cause actual future results and otherfuture events to differ materially from those currently estimated by management,including adverse economic conditions in the U.S. and abroad which cansignificantly and adversely affect Aetnas business and profitability; continuedvolatility and further deterioration of the U.S. and global capital markets,including fluctuations in interest rates, fixed income and equity prices and thevalue of financial assets, along with the general deterioration in thecommercial paper, capital and credit markets, which can adversely impact thevalue of Aetnas investment portfolio, Aetnas profitability by reducing netinvestment income and/or Aetnas financial position by causing us to realizeadditional impairments on our investments; failure to achieve desired rateincreases and/or profitable membership growth due to the slowing economy and/orsignificant competition, especially in key geographic markets where membershipis concentrated; adverse pricing or funding actions by federal or stategovernment payors; and unanticipated increases in medical costs (includingincreased medical utilization, increases resulting from unfavorable changes incontracting or re-contracting with providers, increased pharmacy costs, changesin membership mix to lower-premium or higher-cost products or membership-adverseselection; as well as changes in medical cost estimates due to the necessaryextensive judgment that is used in the medical cost estimation process, theconsiderable variability inherent in such estimates, and the sensitivity of suchestimates to changes in medical claims payment patterns and changes in medicalcost trends).

Other important risk factors include, but are not limited to:adverse changes in size, product mix or medical cost experience of membership;adverse changes in federal or state government policies or regulation (includinglegislative proposals that would affect our business model and/or limit ourability to price for the risk we assume and/or reflect reasonable costs orprofits in our pricing and other proposals, such as initiatives to eliminate orreduce ERISA pre-emption of state laws, that would increase potential litigationexposure or mandate coverage of certain health benefits); the ability to reduceadministrative expenses while maintaining targeted levels of service andoperating performance; the ability to improve relations with providers whiletaking actions to reduce medical costs and/or expand the services we offer; theability to successfully integrate our businesses (including acquired businesses)and implement multiple strategic and operational initiatives simultaneously; ourability to integrate, simplify, and enhance our existing information technologysystems and platforms to keep pace with changing customer and regulatory needs;the outcome of various litigation and regulatory matters, including litigationand ongoing reviews of business practices by various regulatory authorities(including the current industry-wide investigation by the New York AttorneyGeneral into certain payment practices with respect to out-of-networkproviders); reputational issues arising from data security breaches or othermeans; and increases in medical costs or Group Insurance claims resulting fromany acts of terrorism, epidemics or other extreme events. For more discussion ofimportant risk factors that may materially affect Aetna, please see the riskfactors contained in Aetna's 2007 Annual Report on Form 10-K and its QuarterlyReport on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2008, on file with theSecurities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). You also should read Aetna's 2007Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterended September 30, 2008, on file with the SEC for a discussion of Aetna'shistorical results of operations and financial conditions. AetnaMedia Contact:Fred Laberge, orInvestor Contact:Jeffrey A. Chaffkin, Copyright Business Wire 2009. If you look at the Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, it’s obvious. Oh evil empires, thou hast a big market advantage thast gives you unfair deep pockets! What’s a Pittsburgh to do But wait, if you look at the Mets, Angels, White Sox, who play in the same markets, the advantage isn’t so big after all. If you look at the Washington Nationals (a big market over 2MM households) the advantage is non-existent with the low attendance and the worst TV ratings in the majors. Oh, BTW, some big market teams don’t win so often; ask the poor Cubbies. Is it really possible that market size disparities can be overcome Yes.OK, another factoid. In 1989, 20 years ago, the big markets were still the big markets, right However the Yankees drew only 2.1 MMoutdrawn by up to .5-1MM by each of three “smaller market” teamsthe Blue Jays, Cardinals, and Oriolesthat's for the birds!Now let’s do some statistical analysis.This year, based on statistical correlation, the size of the market explained only about 35 of the variance in attendance (even less correlated in 1989, when the top 5 teams were the Blue Jays, Cardinals Dodgers, Mets, As). We also see huge variance in TV ratings that can overcome market size differences; in the 9-s for the Red Sox, 6-8 range for the Cardinals, Phils, Tigers, Brewers, Mariners and less than 1.0 for Washington and the A’s (regional sports networks). That’s not about market size, that’s about knowing how to build fan interest.

An example is that the Cardinals play in a pretty small DMA (TV) market that is half the size of Texas but have about twice the RSN viewers.So it turns out that baseball statistics prove that size matters, but not as much as you’d think. The financial wherewithal of your team is one-third based on the size of the market and two-thirds based on “other stuff” which I would summarize as the ability for a team to create that special relationship with its fans like the Cardinals have had for decades. Building fan love can be done in any size market and is not a given in big markets. People might think the Cubs, Yanks, Red Sox always sold out; no way fan devotion was much less 20-30 years ago. Any market can sell out and any team can potentially get big Nielsen ratings. On the flip side, any big market can lose the interest of its fans It’s about having a great management team. Although it is certainly easier in a big market to generate funds, small market teams have plenty of opportunity to generate the money to compete.Size matters but not as much as you think. . Leading Airline to Discuss Use of Ariba Solutions to Weather Down Economy inJanuary 20 WebinarSUNNYVALE, Calif.(Business Wire)As the global economy continues its slide, executives have only two levers theycan pull to maintain profitability - manage costs and cash On January 20,Ariba, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARBA), the leading spend management solutions provider, andProcurement Leaders, the leading global magazine for senior procurement,sourcing and supply chain executives, will host an interactive webinar todiscuss how British Airways (BA), Europes largest airline, is leveraging Aribaofferings to lower costs, increase efficiencies and improve competitiveadvantage even in the toughest of times The interactive session will take placefrom 7:30 a.m - 8:30 a.m ET. An early adopter of spend management, BA has successfully implementedtechnologies and best practice processes to streamline its procurement function,identify opportunities for savings across a wide range of goods and services andsuccessfully drive them to the bottom line.