HTML E-Mail Merge

How do I Merge HTML E-mails from Word 2000? I have word set up as my e-mail editor (in Outlook) and the default format for e-mails is HTML, but when I start this merge operation in Word it seems to generate only Plain Text messages. I receive other merged HTML e-mails, and I can send webpages (from explorer – using Outlook as the e-mail client without it converting them down to plain text), but I can’t do it myself. What gives? I realize there is expensive software out there that claims to solve my problem (and proboably does), but I have the nagging feeling that there is a simple answer to this dilemma.