NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) June 30, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said its ratings on Highmark Inc. (A/Stable/--) are unaffected by the announcement that Highmark and West Penn Allegheny Health System (WPAH) have signed a term sheet indicating their intent to enter into an affiliation. Under the proposed agreement, Highmark will provide WPAH with a financial commitment of up to $475 million over a period of four years. As proposed, WPAH will become a commonly controlled affiliate company in the Highmark organization, which likely will need to be restructured in order to separate Highmark's insurance operations and its new provider operations. The rating is unaffected because we believe that there is limited financial downside to Highmark from the
