Highlights of the renewed marketing alliance include:

-- A ten-year term with the option for either company to exit the allianceafter five years.

-- A marketing program that will expand sales opportunities for both StateFarm agents and their licensed staff.

"Over the past eight years, our alliance with Assurant Health has helpedus meet the needs of our customers," said State Farm Executive Vice President,Administrative Officer -- Life and Vice President -- Health, Susan Waring."The alliance allows us to offer a complete portfolio of quality individualmedical insurance products -- from traditional health coverage to innovativeHigh Deductible Health Plans that can be combined with Health Savings Accountsto better manage qualified healthcare expenses. Continuing this alliance meanswe can keep offering solutions to more of our current and future State Farmcustomers."

Nearly 17,000 agents currently sell State Farm insurance products andState Farm customers now comprise about one of every four households in theUnited States. Assurant Health is one of the nation's leading providers ofindividual medical and small group health insurance products.

"Our alliance with State Farm has proven to be beneficial to everyoneinvolved," said Assurant Health President and CEO Don Hamm. "We are extremelypleased to be continuing this great relationship into the future and lookforward to continued work with State Farm, our largest business alliance."

State Farm(R) insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in theU.S., is the leading insurer of watercraft and is also a leading insurer inCanada. State Farm's 17,000 agents and 67,000 employees serve over 77 millionauto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and morethan 1.9 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile InsuranceCompany is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm isranked No. 32 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For moreinformation, please visit http://statefarm.com(R) or in Canadahttp://statefarm.ca(R).

Assurant Health has been in business since 1892 and is the brand name forproducts underwritten and issued by Time Insurance Company, John Alden LifeInsurance Company and Union Security Insurance Company. Together, these threeunderwriting companies provide health insurance coverage for almost onemillion people nationwide. Each underwriting company is financiallyresponsible for its own insurance products. Primary products includeindividual medical, small group, short-term and student health insuranceproducts, as well as non-insurance products and consumer-choice products suchas Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimbursement Arrangements. With almost3,000 employees, Assurant Health is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,with operations offices in Minnesota, Idaho and Florida, as well as salesoffices across the country. The Assurant Health Web site ishttp://www.assuranthealth.com.

Assurant Health is part of Assurant, a premier provider of specializedinsurance products and related services in North America and selectedinternational markets. Its four key businesses -- Assurant Employee Benefits,Assurant Health, Assurant Solutions and Assurant Specialty Property -- havepartnered with clients who are leaders in their industries and have builtleadership positions in a number of specialty insurance market segmentsworldwide.

Assurant, a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500, is traded onthe New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ. Assurant has more than $26billion in assets and $8 billion in annual revenue. Assurant has more than14,000 employees worldwide and is headquartered in New York's financialdistrict. The Assurant Web site is http://www.assurant.com.

SOURCE State Farm Insurance