CNO Announces Offering of Senior Secured Notes Due 2017

CARMEL, Ind., Dec. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — CNO Financial Group, Inc.
(NYSE: CNO) announced today that it intends to offer $300 million aggregate
principal amount of senior secured notes due 2017. The Company intends to use
the net proceeds, together with amounts to be borrowed under a new $325 million
senior secured credit facility along with available cash, to retire the
Company’s existing senior credit facility.

The notes are to be offered and sold to “qualified institutional buyers” as
defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
“Securities Act”) and outside the United States in reliance on Regulation S
under the Securities Act.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of
an offer to buy the notes or any other securities. The notes have not been and
will not be registered under the Securities Act or any state securities laws and
may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration except
pursuant to an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the
Securities Act and applicable state securities laws.

About CNO

CNO is a holding company. Our insurance subsidiaries – principally Bankers Life
and Casualty Company, Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company and Washington
National Insurance Company – serve working American families and seniors by
helping them protect against financial adversity and provide for a more secure
retirement. For more information, visit CNO online at www.CNOinc.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.Our statements, trend
analyses and other information contained in this press release relative to
markets for CNO Financial’s products and trends in CNO Financial’s operations or
financial results, as well as other statements, contain forward-looking
statements within the meaning of thefederal securities laws and the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements typically
are identified by the use of terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “plan,”
“estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “intend,” “may,” “will,” “would,”
“contemplate,” “possible,” “attempt,” “seek,” “should,” “could,” “goal,”
“target,” “on track,” “comfortable with,” “optimistic” and similar words,
although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. You should
consider statements that contain these words carefully because they describe our
expectations, plans, strategies and goals and our beliefs concerning future
business conditions, our results of operations, financial position, and our
business outlook or they state other ”forward-looking” information based on
currently available information. Assumptions and other important factors that
could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in
our forward-looking statements include, among other things: (i) changes in or
sustained low interest rates causing a reduction in investment income, the
margins of our subsidiaries’ fixed annuity and life insurance businesses and
demand for their products; (ii) general economic, market and political
conditions, including the performance and fluctuations of the financial markets
which may affect our ability to raise capital or refinance existing indebtedness
and the cost of doing so; (iii) our ability to generate sufficient liquidity to
meet our debt service obligations and other cash needs; (iv) our ability to
obtain adequate and timely rate increases on our health products, including our
long-term care business; (v) the receipt of any required regulatory approvals
for dividend and surplus debenture interest payments from our insurance
subsidiaries; (vi) mortality, morbidity, the increased cost and usage of health
care services, persistency, the adequacy of our previous reserve estimates and
other factors which may affect the profitability of our insurance products;
(vii) changes in our assumptions related to deferred acquisition costs or the
present value of future profits; (viii) the recoverability of our deferred tax
assets and the effect of potential ownership changes and tax rate changes on
their value; (ix) our assumption that the positions we take on our tax return
filings, including our position that our 7.0% convertible senior debentures due
2016 will not be treated as stock for purposes of Section 382 of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and will not trigger an ownership change, will
not be successfully challenged by the Internal Revenue Service; (x) changes in
accounting principles and the interpretation thereof; (xi) our ability to
continue to satisfy the financial ratio and balance requirements and other
covenants of our debt agreements; (xii) our ability to achieve anticipated
expense reductions and levels of operational efficiencies including improvements
in claims adjudication and continued automation and rationalization of operating
systems, (xiii) performance and valuation of our investments, including the
impact of realized losses (including other-than-temporary impairment charges);
(xiv) our ability to identify products and markets in which we can compete
effectively against competitors with greater market share, higher ratings,
greater financial resources and stronger brand recognition; (xv) the ultimate
outcome of lawsuits filed against us and other legal and regulatory proceedings
to which we are subject; (xvi) our ability to complete the remediation of the
material weakness in internal controls over our actuarial reporting process and
to maintain effective controls over financial reporting; (xvii) our ability to
continue to recruit and retain productive agents and distribution partners and
customer response to new products, distribution channels and marketing
initiatives; (xviii) our ability to achieve eventual upgrades of the financial
strength ratings of CNO Financial and our insurance company subsidiaries as well
as the impact of our ratings on our business, our ability to access capital and
the cost of capital; (xix) the risk factors or uncertainties listed from time to
time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission; (xx) regulatory
changes or actions, including those relating to regulation of the financial
affairs of our insurance companies, such as the payment of dividends and surplus
debenture interest to us, regulation of financial services affecting (among
other things) bank sales and underwriting of insurance products, regulation of
the sale, underwriting and pricing of products, and health care regulation
affecting health insurance products; and (xxi) changes in the Federal income tax
laws and regulations which may affect or eliminate the relative tax advantages
of some of our products. Other factors and assumptions not identified above are
also relevant to the forward-looking statements, and if they prove incorrect,
could also cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. All
forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by the
foregoing cautionary statements. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of
the date made. We assume no obligation to update or to publicly announce the
results of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements to reflect
actual results, future events or developments, changes in assumptions or changes
in other factors affecting the forward-looking statements.