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.

TUBE Winner

Vaughan Schow was the big winner from The Top of Utah Business Expo put on by The Ogden Weber Chamber of Commerce that was held at the Golden Spike Arena. Vaughan guessed the closet correct number to the amount of money in the jar. Congrats Vaughan!

FLO!

The Insurance Center helped to organize a charity golf tournament for the YCC in Ogden and Progressive Insurance Participated in it. Golfers were given a prize for the person who hit the closet ball to Flo. Here is shot of The Insurance Center staff with Flo. From left Jason Call, Kierstin Goodell, and Scott Millward.

Raptors Pictures

Here are photos of The Insurance Center's Customer Appreciation Night at The Raptor's baseball game. Due to techinal difficulties we are still working on posting the video of the big night.


Steve George plays the Strike-O-Baseball Toss during the middle of the fifth inning.


Lucy Davidson sings the national anthem before the game.


Porter Iverson enjoys a pre game dinner while his brother Jace looks on.


Carston and Dax Iverson show off their mad jumping skills before the game.


While his older brother Jace smiles Jett Iverson shows off why he enjoys coming to Raptor's games.


Jamie Phippen and her children Liz and Brandon come to support the Raptor's.


Nancy Millward of Megaware Keelguard and her friend enjoy their dinner before the big game.


Chad Stephens, owner of Comfort Solutions, and his daughter Maya Stephens get checked in.


Troy and Kristy Iverson are pictured here along with two of their four children.


Here are sister's Sheri Norseth and Stacey Dixon entering the park with their families along with Sheri's husband Clint.


Here is Val Iverson, owner of Get Air, with his sister Carol Ann talking to Insurance Center employees Kierstin Goodell and Candice Burke.


Here is Shawn Iverson, owner of The Insurance Center, greeting Steve George of Riverside Electric and his family.


Here are Scott and Robin Maughan agents from the Logan office.


Here are Bob and Pamela Moore two of the Raptor's biggest fans!

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)

According to Independant Agent Magazine last Friday, a three-judge panel at the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the individual mandate portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The court sided with the 26 states, led by Florida, which filed suit against the law stating that the federal government did not have the power under the U.S. Constitution to require individuals to purchase health insurance. This case was notable both because it is arguably the most high-profile of all the court challenges to the PPACA, and because it makes the likelihood of a U.S. Supreme Court decision before the 2012 elections all but certain.

Most court-watchers believe this latest ruling against the constitutionality of the individual mandate has greatly increased the chances of the U.S. Supreme Court taking up a case on this issue in its next term, which begins this October and ends in June 2012. This is because two appellate courts have now ruled in opposite directions on the constitutionality of the law, since the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to uphold the law in June Also, since the Obama Administration lost this particular case, it is up to them to file an appeal. Most believe the Supreme Court would be loath to turn away the Administration in a case as high profile and wide in scope as this one.

Customer Appreciation Night at The Ogden Raptors!

Last night was The Insurance Center's annual customer appreciation night at The Ogden Raptors. Although The Raptors didn't win our insureds still had a great time at the ball game. Some of our insureds participated in activies that occured between innings such as the bat spin and baseball toss. Video of these events and others are to be posted soon on our blog and facebook page. Remember to get a free quote for insurance that fits your lifestyle to give The Insurance Center a call today!

Raptors Night!

For the past five years The Insurance Center has sponsered a "Night at the Raptors". This year the event will be held this year on Tuesday August 2, 2011. Free tickets can be printed off our website at www.insurancecenterUT.com or you can stop by our office at 3020 Washington Blvd Ogden UT 84401 to pick up tickets. See you there!

Summer Fun!

With the Fourth of July almost here and the middle of summer approaching there is a new trampoline park opening this weekend in Roy. Check it out for tons of summer fun!



Their website is www.getairsports.com where you can find more information and directions to the park along. Below is a description from the website about the facility.

"We are Utah’s newest trampoline arena! Our trampoline park includes 4 pit trampolines with competition rectangular trampolines. The dodge ball arena includes 4 - ten feet wide, fifty-one feet long tumble tracks with angled sides. We have two Aeroball Courts for competitive players. Aeroball is a combination of volleyball, basketball and trampolining merged into one. Another section includes an AirJam basketball. In addition we have a large free jump area and “Small Air” for children under 48 inches in height."

"Our trampolines are built of the finest quality materials with your safety and enjoyment in mind. We would love for you to come by and check us out!"

Summer!

Summer may finally be here and families are headed off on vacation. The photo above shows Shawn, one of our agents, on a past family vacation with his family. Many people hit the open road like Shawn and his family did and drive to their vacation destinations. Here at the insurance center we can give you a quote for auto insurance and save you money. Give us a call today for a free auto quote!

Gold Award

The Insurance Center was presented today with the Gold Award from Auto Owners Insurance. We were the the top production leader for Life Insurance for the Northern Utah Territory in 2010. Shown in the picture above from left to right is Jason Call, Matt Hedquist, Shawn Iverson, and Scott Millward. Matt is the marketing rep for Northern Utah for Auto Owners while Shawn, Jason, and Scott are all life agents at the insurance center. If you are looking to purchase some life insurance give The Insurance Center a call today!

Disability Awareness Month

May is Disability Awareness Month. Disability insurance can help protect your paycheck if you are injured or ill and unable to work. Why not insure one of your most vauable assets? www.protectyourpaycheck.com is a good website to check out with information about disability insurance and a personal disability quotient calculator that calculates your chance of becoming disabled. Here at The Insurance Center we write disability policies and would be happy to do a quote for it.

UAIIA Convention

The Utah Association of Independant Insurance Agents Connvention was held this past weekend at the Eccles Conference Center in Ogden. All the agents from The Insurance Center were able to attend and enjoyed it very much. Shawn Iverson was able to take some picture with some of the vendors that were at the trade booth fair last Friday.



This is Shawn Iverson with Charlie Anderson who is the president of Multico.



This is Wayne Spence of Advanced Restoration with Shawn Iverson.

Big Winner!

Congrats to Jason Call from our office who won the Young Agent of the Year Award at the UAIIA Convention which was held in Ogden this past week. Jason has worked at the insurance center for over seven years and we are proud of the hard work he does!

Facebook

Check out our new page on facebook and like us! Our new facebook page is designed to let you let know what the insurance center is about and what is going on at the agency as well as to receive feedback from you our clients on how you feel about us. Make and comment and let us know what you think!