Quote Of The Month Employees See More Restrictive Health Plans Need an HSA Model? IRS Responds Employers scrutinize cost of running 401(k) PatientCare Advocacy maximized plan benefits You Can Never Predict the Health of your Pet


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CONTENTS
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
HEALTH CARE COSTS INCREASING
SPITZERS GAMBIT AND HOW IT WILL EFFECT YOU
BAD MORALE A DRAIN ON PRODUCTIVITY
DEVELOP HIGH PERFORMERS NOW

Visit our Sponsor
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25 High Impact Marketing Strategies for Insurance Agents

CREATE YOUR OWN HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNT FOR YOUR FIRM

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
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"All men who have achieved great things have been great
dreamers."
-Orison Swett Marden


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HEALTH CARE COSTS INCREASING
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Employers' healthcare costs are expected to increase by an
average of 11.3 percent in 2005, which outpaces inflation
but is lower than 12.3 percent increase in 2004, according
to a forecast by Hewitt Associates, a consulting firm.

http://tinyurl.com/55olr


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SPITZERS GAMBIT AND HOW IT WILL EFFECT YOU
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Eliot Spitzer launched a major attack on the insurance
industry last week. This new scandal could have Enron
proportions as the defense against his charges that brokerage
houses pushed business to those that paid the highest commissions
is "that it is business as usual." Successful or not, this
inquiry may weaken the rating of your insurance carrier.
You may want to click around to see their rating. And don't
be lulled into a false sense of security by a high rating
by one ratings firm. Ten years ago, The Government Accounting
Office published an interesting report comparing various
rating firms with differing results. Few people know that the
insurance companies often pay the ratings companies to
provide ratings. For a copy of the GAO report click here;
http://www.weissratings.com/gao_study.asp

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BAD MORALE A DRAIN ON PRODUCTIVITY
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Nothing affects employee morale more insidiously than
persistent workplace negativity. It saps the energy of
your organization and diverts critical attention from work
and performance. Find out how to minimize negativity
before it starts in Tips for Minimizing Workplace
Negativity....
http://tinyurl.com/6rf2x


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DEVELOP HIGH PERFORMERS NOW
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You can hire the best and develop the rest of your
employees. These seven practices will help you develop a
high performance, superior workforce that is focused on
continuous improvement. And, what's more important than
that for you?

http://tinyurl.com/6k5b8


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CELL PHONE CALL COSTS $2 MILLION DOLLARS
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A jury in Virginia said Thursday a former lawyer who was
accused of talking on her cell phone when she struck and
killed a teenager while driving her Mercedes must pay $2
million, the Washington Post reports.

http://tinyurl.com/3l4mx


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TIPS
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Forward to your insurance agent! This edition sponsored
by Insurance Agent Tips. http://www.insuranceagenttips.com
Agents can now get their own branded newsletter to publish
and send to their prospects and clients.
http://www.adventinfo.biz/benefitnetwork.htm

Create your own HSA for your firm.
http://www.thebenefitnetwork.com/HSAKIT.htm


Everyone thinks of a little tykes kitchen and large living rooms. No dream house is complete without some beautiful gardens and lots of garden furniture. Then there have to be wooden swing sets as well. Larger mansions will require irrigation pumps and one does not need to be a genius in botanic garden research in order to figure this out.

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E-zine October 2004

(c) Copyright 2004 The Benefit Network