EXHIBIT 31.1

                  PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S CERTIFICATIONS
            PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, William J. Gedwed, President and Chief Executive Officer of UICI, certify
that:

         1.       I have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the
         Quarter ended September 30, 2003 of UICI;

         2.       Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
         statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary
         to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which
         such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period
         covered by this report;

         3.       Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
         financial information included in this report, fairly present in all
         material respects the financial condition, results of operations and
         cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in
         this report;

         4.       The registrant's other certifying officer and I are
         responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and
         procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e))
         for the registrant and have:

                  a)       Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or
                  caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed
                  under our supervision, to ensure that material information
                  relating to the registrant, including its consolidated
                  subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
                  entities, particularly during the period in which this report
                  is being prepared;

                  b)       Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's
                  disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this
                  report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the
                  disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the
                  period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

                  c)       Disclosed in this report any change in the
                  registrant's internal control over financial reporting that
                  occurred during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter
                  that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to
                  materially affect, the registrant's internal control over
                  financial reporting; and

         5.       The registrant's other certifying officer and I have
         disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
         financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit
         committee of the registrant's board of directors:

                  a)       All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses
                  in the design or operation of internal control over financial
                  reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
                  registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report
                  financial information; and

                  b)       Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
                  management or other employees who have a significant role in
                  the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

         Date: November 14, 2003            ____________________________________
                                            Name: William J. Gedwed
                                            Title: President and Chief Executive
                                                   Officer
                                                                UICI