NHC to Pay Preferred and Common Dividends

For release: February 22, 2011
Contact: Gerald Coggin, Senior VP of Corporate Relations
Phone: (615) 890-2020

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – National HealthCare Corporation (NYSE Amex: NHC, NHC.PRA), one of the nation’s oldest long-term health care companies, announced today that it will pay a quarterly dividend of 20 cents per preferred share to shareholders of record on March 15, 2011 and payable on April 15, 2011 and a dividend of 28 cents per common share to shareholders of record on March 31, 2011 and payable on June 1, 2011.