NORWALK, Conn., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Affinion Group, a global leader in customer engagement solutions and provider of programs that enhance and extend the relationship of millions of consumers for partners, has signed an agreement with OptumHealth(SM) to upgrade Affinion's health related member benefits.

Effective immediately, through its relationship with the OptumHealth Allies discount program, Affinion is able to offer its partners nationwide access to an even larger pool of medical and health related discounts and savings plans than the company currently offers in its HealthSaver program, in which members already enjoy discounts with more than 200,000 physicians. In turn, these marketing partners will be able to engage their customers by offering programs that provide member-access to these valuable discounts.

"We're eager to extend the reach of our successful health and wellness programs to allow our partners to provide families and individuals with even more ways of maintaining their health," said Brad Eggleston, vice president of Affinion. "Through this agreement, we've created a more comprehensive offering that will ultimately enhance the relationships that our partners have with their consumers, especially given the difficult economic conditions."

The agreement comes at a time where a significant portion of the US populations reports that they are in danger of losing their health insurance if they to lose their job. In a recent survey conducted on behalf of Affinion, 66% of respondents either didn't know if they would maintain their insurance or believed it would expire within a month under these circumstances.

"Affinion's strong track record of helping their clients engage consumers speaks for itself, and made them a particularly attractive partner for us," said Chief Operating Officer for OptumHealth Allies, Marcee Chmait. "We expect that the depth of relationships Affinion has with its partners and the marketing expertise that the company brings to the table will dramatically help us add new members."

About Affinion Group

As a global leader with nearly 35 years of experience, Affinion Group (www.affinion.com) enhances the value of its partners' customer relationships by developing and marketing valuable loyalty, membership, checking account, insurance and other compelling products and services. Leveraging its expertise in product development and targeted marketing, Affinion provides comprehensive customer engagement and loyalty solutions that enhance or extend the relationship of millions of customers with many of the largest and most respected companies in the world, while helping to generate significant incremental revenue for more than 5,500 affinity partners worldwide, including many of the largest and most respected companies in financial services, retail, travel, and Internet commerce. Based in Norwalk, Conn., the company has approximately 3,000 employees throughout the United States and in 14 countries across Europe. Affinion holds the prestigious ISO 27001 certification for the highest information security practices, is PCI compliant and Cybertrust certified.

About OptumHealth Allies

OptumHealth Allies is the health discount program of OptumHealth, a business of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH). OptumHealth Allies is not insurance. It provides discounts at certain care providers for medical and health services and products. More information about OptumHealth Allies can be found at www.optumhealthallies.com.

SafeHarbor Statement Under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This press release may contain statements that are forward looking, as that term is defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 or by the Securities and Exchange Commission in its rules, regulations and releases. These statements include, but are not limited to, discussions regarding industry outlook, Affinion's expectations regarding the performance of its business, its liquidity and capital resources and the other non-historical statements in the discussion and analysis. These forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. When used in this release, the words "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "intend" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. These statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including risks related to general economic and business conditions and international and geopolitical events, a downturn in the credit card industry or changes in the techniques of credit card issuers, market place consolidation among financial institution affinity partners, industry trends, the effects of a decline in travel on our travel fulfillment business, termination or expiration of one or more agreements with our affinity partners or a reduction of the marketing of our services by one or more of our affinity partners, the outcome of legal actions, our substantial leverage, restrictions contained in our debt agreements and our inability to compete effectively.

SOURCE Affinion Group