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October 01, 2003

Wellness Plan for Employees

Natural Ovens Bakery, Inc.,
Manitowoc, WI joined the Healthy X Change System effective October 1, 2003. The new plan provides all the benefits of their former plan "plus a whole lot more". The first big change and improvement was the assurance that both Employer and Employee contributions for healthcare would be frozen at the 2003 level for the next three years instead of getting annual double digit increases.

In addition to no increases in cost, Employees were offered the opportunity to earn Optimal Health Awards (OHAs or Dividends) of $1,000 for Single Plans, $2,000 for Limited Family Plans (employee plus one dependent) and $3,000 for Family Plans annually. These funds are earned by establishing nutrition, exercise and lifestyle goals and then achieving them with the help of a Healthcoach. The Healthcoach monitors the activity and certifies the amount of credits earned. The first impact of lowered claims is an increase in dollars allocated for the wellness incentives called OHAs or Dividends.

In addition, the Claims Pool Surplus at year end will be invested for Natural Ovens in a Self-Insurance Fund to accumulate funds to at some future date self-insure the Stop-Loss Insurance and thus eliminate the stop-loss insurance premium. Since employee contributions pay for fixed expenses, this will result in a reduction in the amount of the employee's payroll deductions.

The amount of healthcare plan deductions and co-pays were maintained at the same level as the former plan, however the list of excluded items was significantly reduced. As claims experience continues to improve, the "deducts" will be lowered or eliminated.

Another significant change was the 'freedom of choice' to select a provider of choice for any healthcare treatments. Integrative Medicine uses conventional medicine but also "opens the door" to all types of alternate care providers. Out-of-Network providers require a 20% employee co-pay instead of 10% for in-network providers, however charges for services by alternative care providers are frequently 50% less than conventional medical care. The lower costs plus fewer claims due to the prevention efforts results in a savings to both employee and employer.

The long term benefits are three:

1.--> create healthy, happy productive employees
2.--> significant increase in retirement income from dividend investments
3.--> significant lower cost of healthcare for both employer and employees.

This next generation of Healthcare replaces a healthcare crisis by exchanging healthcare dollars for investment dollars, truly, a
Healthy X Change!