Fleischer was less emphatic about adjusting cost-of-living benefits or raising the retirement age.

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But it also makes it difficult to provide a specific address for an Internet caller, and vendors worry about the cost and complexity of adjusting their systems to do so.

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Essentially, this is the yearly percentage change in cash value after adjusting for dividends received, premiums paid and the cost of the death coverage itself.

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But the Employment Cost Index shows that the average value of health benefits rose 18 percent from 1998 to 2008, adjusting for inflation.

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