California School Employees Association Selects Healthyroads to Administer Voluntary Weight Loss Program

SAN DIEGO (November 2, 2005) – American Specialty Health (ASH), the nation’s leading complementary health care organization, announced a new agreement between its subsidiary, Healthyroads, Inc., and the California School Employees Association (CSEA) for the administration of the “CSEA Weight Loss Challenge,” a voluntary weight management program that was introduced at its annual convention of CSEA’s members.

Healthyroads is administering services for the weight management program, which includes telephone sessions from health educators for ongoing coaching and support; diet and fitness analyses and planning services; online tools and trackers; award-winning educational resources; and discounts on health and wellness products with free shipping.

“We look forward to administering the weight loss program to CSEA’s members,” said George DeVries, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of ASH. “It will be exciting to see the improvement in their members’ overall health.”

Organized in 1927 by a group of determined custodians in Oakland, CSEA is now the largest classified school employees union in the United States. CSEA represents more than 230,000 public employees in California, including bus drivers, custodians, school secretaries, paraeducators, food service workers and other classified employees. The union is divided into 10 geographic areas and democratically controlled by members in more than 750 local chapters.

Healthyroads offers a range of wellness programs and other tools to help members get in shape, eat healthier, and achieve positive lifestyle habits. Healthyroads provides eligible members with discounts on more than 2,400 health and wellness products that can be purchased online through Healthyroads.com®.

ASH is the nation's leading specialty health organization for complementary health care, providing benefits, health education programs, affinity discount, and wellness programs to health plans, insurance carriers, employer groups, and trust funds nationwide. Based in San Diego, ASH has over 500 employees and more than 12.1 million members in benefit programs nationwide. ASH also covers more than 80 million members in affinity discount network programs and more than 400,000 in wellness programs. ASH is located at 777 Front St., San Diego, Calif. 92101; phone (800) 848-3555.

For more information, visit ASHCompanies.com.