Batter Up!

Here are our insureds Melany and Benson Bey holding The Insurance Center giant bat in our office.  The bat stays in our office year round and makes an appearance at Raptor Stadium when we host our annual Insurance Center Night at the Raptors!  Come down to The Insurance Center where you can get your picture taken with the bat and get a free quote on insurance! 

The Insurance Center would like to wecome Blaine Napoli as our newest employee!  Blaine brings many years of insurance experience to The Insurance Center.  He holds both his property and casualty license as well as his life and health license.  Blaine is orginally from North Ogden and is married with six kids and a dog.  He enjoys bird hunting watching his kids play soccer.  Welcome to The Insurance Center Blaine! 

September is Life Insurance Awareness month.  www.lifehappens.org has a life insurance calculator to help calculate how much life insurance your family would need in the event of your death.  Protect your loved ones with life insurance.  For a free life quote call The Insurance Center at 801-622-2626.

Health Care Reform Provisions

The following is a timeline of PPACA provisions that could affect you.  With the recent Supreme Court decision upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), there has been greater interest in the details of the law and how it will impact individuals.  Below is a timeline on the implementaion of key provisions of the law that was created by the Utah Association fo Independent Insurance Agents.

2013


*Increase Medicare tax rate on wages by 0.9% (from 1.45% to 2.35%) on earnings over $200,000 for individual taxpayers ($250,000 for joint filers).

*3.8% tax increase on investment income for taxpayers making $200,000 per year ($250,000 for joint filers); however in real estate transactions there is an exemption in current law for $250,000 on the sale of a principal residence ($500,000 for joint filers).

*Contributions to FSAs limited to $2,500 per year.

*(IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS PROGRAM HALTED INDEFINITELY BY HHS) CLASS Act:
A national long term care assistance/disability insurance plan is established. The benefit is tied to one's inability to perform two or three Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and the benefit amount is varied based on the "scale of functional ability" with a $50-7/day cash benefit. All working adults will be automatically enrolled in the program unless they choose to opt-out.
2014

*Exchanges are created and open to individuals and small businesses (2-100 employees). Exchanges will include four tiers of private plans(Bronze- 60% actuarial value, Silver-70%, Gold-80%, Platinum- 90%, and Catastrophic coverage).

*Premium tax credits (subsidies for purchase of health insurance) available via exchanges for individuals/families with incomes between 100% and 400% of federal poverty level who do not receive employer based coverage.

Health Care Reform Law

The Supreme Court upheld the 2010 Health Care Reform Law ("Obamacare"), in its entirety. that means the following items will take effect beginning in the near future: 2012 • Medicare hospital value-based purchasing program • Increase in physician quality reporting requirements in Medicare • Additional Medicare pilot programs on alternative payment methodologies, e.g., accountable care organiza...tions • Increased requirements for hospitals to maintain not-for-profit status • Fees from insured (including self-insured) plans transferred to the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund 2013 • Increase Medicare payroll tax by 0.9% on high-income earners • Impose a 3.8% tax on net investment income of high-income individuals • $500,000 cap on health insurers’ deduction for executive compensation • Eliminate employer deduction for Medicare Part D subsidy • FSA limitations • Excise tax on medical device manufacturers and importers • Medical expense deduction floor increases to 10% • Nationwide bundled payment pilot begins in Medicare • Increased Medicaid reimbursement for primary care • Medicare physician comparison data available to the public • Reductions in Medicare payments for select hospital readmissions • Expanded coverage of preventive services by Medicaid

New Employees

The Insurance Center would like to welcome Jeremy Scheer and Rebecca Meza to The Insurance Center. Jeremy just graduated from Weber State University with a B.S. degree in Technical Sales. He enjoys playing basketball, spending time with his wife and new daughter, and enjoying the outdoors. His favorite movies are Napolean Dynamite and Nacho Libre. Rebecca enjoys spending time with her family, looking for Mr. Right Now, and supporting her church. Her favorite movie and book is Pride and Prejudice. We are happy that they decided to join The Insurance Center and appreciate all their efforts in making the Insurance Center successful.

Shawn's Childhood Dream

Here is a photo of Shawn Iverson, owner of The Insurance Center, fufilling his childhood dream of driving a fire truck. The photo was talken at The Children's Treehouse Museum during February's Leadership of Northern Utah Day which is done by the Ogden Weber Chamber of Commerce.