LANCASTER, Pa., Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Eastern Life and Health Insurance Company (ELH), a subsidiary of Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: EIHI), announced today that it has expanded its online capabilities with the introduction of e-bility, its group benefits Web portal.

Accessible through ELH's Web site, http://www.elhins.com, e-bility provides employer groups and their brokers online access to administration, billing, claims and eligibility information. Employer group administrators can also use the Web portal to process employee additions, changes and terminations.

"Employers and brokers trust ELH to provide ancillary group benefits with outstanding customer service," said Curt Melville, Chief Operating Officer for ELH. "Employers increasingly turn to the Internet to accomplish routine tasks, so ELH partnered with Genelco Software Solutions / IBM to implement a system enabling us to provide this same level of service through our Web site."

"We are pleased to work with Eastern Life and Health on the implementation of e-bility," remarked Mike Molinar, Operations Manager for Genelco Software Solutions / IBM. "Web access is an essential component for servicing and retaining clients today, and this system will give ELH an enhanced model of customer service that allows for enriched relationships. We look forward to our continued partnership to help ELH take full advantage of this system's benefits."

ELH recently completed its e-bility pilot program and will now offer all of its employer groups the opportunity to register for e-bility. The system can be used to access information on all of the group ancillary benefit products the company offers, including dental, short- and long-term disability, term life/AD&D, and vision insurance.

Founded in 1910, ELH provides group ancillary benefit insurance products to customers in 16 states, distributed through independent insurance agents. EIHI operates through its subsidiaries a domestic casualty insurance group specializing in workers' compensation, a domestic accident and life insurance company, a third-party claims administration company, and a specialty reinsurance company. EIHI has regional offices in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Indianapolis, Indiana. ELH and EIHI's Web addresses are www.elhins.com and www.easterninsuranceholdings.com, respectively.

Genelco Software Solutions is part of IBM Corporation, the world's largest technology company. Genelco has, for more than 35 years, provided individual and group life and health insurance product administration software and services to over 200 organizations world wide allowing them to enter new markets quickly and sustain higher levels of customer service while increasing productivity. Genelco offers individual life and annuity carriers a modern and sophisticated SOA, J2EE administration system with an integrated rules engine. This system is being expanded to include functionality for group health and life insurance administration. To learn more, visit www.genelco.com.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some of the statements contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "project," "plan," "intend," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential" or "continue," the negative of these terms or other terminology. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the time the statements are made and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, therefore no assurance can be given that management's expectations, beliefs or projections will occur or be achieved or accomplished. Factors that could affect the Company's actual results include, among others, the fact that our loss reserves are based on estimates and may be inadequate to cover our actual losses; the uncertain effects of emerging claim and coverage issues on our business; the geographic concentration of our business; an inability to obtain or collect on our reinsurance protection; a downgrade in the A.M. Best rating of our insurance subsidiaries; the impact of extensive regulation of the insurance industry and legislative and regulatory changes, a failure to realize our investment objectives; the effects of intense competition; the loss of one or more principal employees; the inability to acquire additional capital on favorable terms; a failure of independent insurance brokers to adequately market our products; and the effects of acts of terrorism or war. More information about these and other factors that potentially could affect our financial results is included in our Form S-1 Registration Statement, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and in our other public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. This press release also does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, EIHI securities. Such an offer will be made only by means of a prospectus.

SOURCE Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc.