| COMPANY PRESS RELEASE |
| TAMPA, Fla—(Business Wire)—Sept.7, 1999—As international
business travel proliferates, more than one-third of U.S.
corporations may be unprepared to manage company traveler
emergencies, according to a survey conducted by Abrams Travel
Data Services on behalf of Leslie Saunders Insurance & Marketing
International (LSIMI). Overseas traveler emergencies, which
include medical crises, lost property or documents, and crime
incidents, are more common than might be expected – 28% of
survey respondents experienced at least one-to-ten emergencies
during the past year. However, 37% of surveyed companies have
no formal program in place for managing these critical situations. |
| “With many traveler emergencies representing life threatening
medical or safety situations, the personnel management and
liability issues facing corporations can be extremely serious,”
says Leslie Saunders, president of LSIMI, a Tampa, FL-based
company specializing in travel insurance, employee benefits,
and marketing to women. |
| The survey results also point out another challenge for
companies: 46% of surveyed corporations have no specific program
in place for female travelers. “The need for information and
special procedures for women travelers becomes even more important
during overseas travel,” says Saunders, who has specialized
in safety issues relating to women travelers for several years. |
| Still another issue is employee travelers facing emergency
situations during personal vacations. “It’s obvious from the
survey data that even for companies that have traveler emergency
programs, most of these companies have no coverage for dependents
or for leisure travel,” Saunders says. |
| Abrams Travel Data Services (ATD) is a Long Beach, CA-based
research firm specializing in analytical market data on the
car rental, travel service, and fleet industries. ATD interviewed
100 corporate travel managers to determine their policies
and practices in this area. ATD is a unit of Abrams Consulting
Group, Inc., the leading specialized consultancy serving the
car rental and allied travel industries worldwide since 1982.
|
| LSIMI has developed a traveler emergency product that can
be accessed through the internet. This unique service allows
corporations and individual travelers to access the information
they need easily and quickly, and provides an all-important
sense of security where it is most needed, Saunders says.
|
| To view this press release and obtain more information on
our products, visit our website at www.lesliesaunders.com
|
|
| Useful
Proverbs . . . |
| Do
not use a hatchet to remove a fly from your friend’s
forehead . . . . . . . . . . Chinese
proverb |
| If
you are planning for a year, sow rice; If you are planning
for a decade, plant trees; If you are planning for a
lifetime, educate people . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. .Chinese proverb |
| Love
your neighbors, but don’t pull down the fence . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Chinese proverb |
| Choose
neither a woman nor linen by candlelight . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Italian
proverb |
| It
is better to conceal one’s knowledge than to reveal
one’s ignorance . . . . . . Spanish
proverb |
|
| FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS: |
| Q:
Why do I have to buy generic drugs? |
| A: The
generic drug has the same ingredients as the brand name drug;
it is simply manufactured by a drug company rather than the
original manufacturer and costs less. Generic drugs have been
available for over 15 years and are a requirement in all insured
medical programs. Most pharmacies will automatically fill
a prescription with a generic instead of a brand name. |
| Q:
What are the advantages to the mail order prescription program? |
| A: A
typical mail order program will permit you to purchase a 90-day
supply (instead of the 30-day available at a pharmacy), and
will only charge one or two co-pays for the medication. Most
medical prescription plans offer some type of mail order benefit
to further reduce costs. Only maintenance-type medications
are eligible for these programs. |
| Q:
What are the three co-pays? |
| A: The
first two levels of co-pays operate like the generally accepted
generic/brand programs. The third level, which is often referred
to as “preferred” or “non-preferred” drugs, has the highest
co-payment amount and encompasses newer, more expensive drugs.
This is something relatively new in medical prescription programs
but we expect to see it in all plans in the next 18 months,
and it is now used in over 50% of prescription programs in
the marketplace. The drug lists change continually as new
drugs are introduced to the market on a regular basis and
as the drug companies take their advertising campaign direct
to the American people. Last year, drug companies spent over
$1.3 billion dollars on consumer advertising — which is more
than the beer companies spend! |
| DO YOU
HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? CALL DAVID GREER AT (813) 949-8964, |
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