CASTELL INSURANCE NEWSLETTER
A local agency providing GREAT  local service!                          April  2015
Phil
Castell

John
Coulson

James 
Castell
Stephany 
Shackelford
Christy 
Francis
Andrea
Wellman
Sharon Castell
In This Issue
Phone:
 360-683-9284

Email:
Monthly Drawing!

When you send a friend for help to our office - your name goes into a fish bowl for our Monthly Drawing to a local venue.

This month's drawing is to the Clallam Co-Op for all those Spring projects in the works!

Brenda Cantelow was April's lucky winner.  Many thanks for the referral.

Annual Irrigation
Festival Buttons 
Phil and Sharon recently attended the Irrigation Festival Kickoff Dinner and met the artist who designed the annual festival button.

June Mennell, a Stamp Collecting friend of Phil's has donated her collection of Festival Buttons to display in our office for all to view. 
Andrea has been busy cataloging and assessing the collection discovering the missing years.
  The collection we have began in 1959 to this year for a total of 56 Buttons, but we know the buttons began earlier than that.

We are missing anything earlier to 1959 as well as the following years.

1960 through 1974,

1977, 2001, 2002, 2004,
2006 through 2010, 2014
and would appreciate any donations to complete our collection!
We do have plenty of duplicates and would love to trade for those years we are missing.
PARADE & BBQ
 "SAVE THE DATE"

You're Invited 
to our  
Annual Client Appreciation Irrigation Festival  
Parade BBQ!

Come enjoy the Irrigation Festival Grand Parade from our prime location!  Bring your own chairs or enjoy our courtesy bleacher seating.
 
Lunch is on us!  We will be grilling up a storm with all the extras as our way of saying "Thank You"
to our clients.

Saturday, May 9th
11:30am - 2:00pm

Castell Insurance Office
426 E. Washington Street
Sunny Sequim!

*Parking available behind the building*

First Come ~ First Parked!

 

John Coulson @ the Grill

James Castell on 2nd Grill 

 Networking
Opportunities
 

Even though we are all still very busy in the office with clients it is important to make time to attend meetings and seminars to learn and network with other professionals.

 

Phil was invited by the Washington Health Benefit Exchange to attend a forum in Bellevue on the Future of Health Care.  At the forum he met two members of the Exchange Board as well as a Director of the Exchange, so great contacts were made.  This will assist in having another avenue to voice concerns and suggestions to the Exchange.

 

Stephany was invited by MODA to tour their new pharmacy building as well as their Home Office in Portland. She learned that Castell Insurance was one of the top 10 agencies for the State of Washington for MODA.  She also had meetings with all manner of folks from the President of the company to most of the VP's in the divisions we do business with.

 

Vote for Sequim! 
 

Sequim Irrigation Festival

needs your vote.

 

It has been nominated

as one of the

"Best Small Town Festivals"

in the annual King 5 TV program Best NW Escapes.

 

The prize is a $5,000 prize which would be a wonderful boost to the longest continuously running festival in the State.

 

 Click here to VOTE   

 

For more information visit  www.irrigationfestival.com  

Save the Date
Annual Shredding Event
shredding event
Saturday August 15th  

at the front of our office

9:30 am - 11:30 am

 

Greetings!

At Castell Insurance we value our clients.  I thought I would share a few fun stories from the office.

 

 A lady sent us a very nice, serious obituary along with photos of her car that died at the ripe old age of 25 years.

She was grieving the loss and wanted to let everyone know just how much that darned old car meant to her for her independence.

 

A long time client from Bremerton, who is 94 years young and does not use the computer, sent me a very nice handwritten letter along the lines of "this is your life".  She gave me clues about where she lived, her deceased husband's first name, etc.  and then asked me, "Do you know who I am???  I am Mrs.  xxx".

I did have a chuckle as her address label on the envelope spoiled the surprise, even before I opened the envelope.

 

We frequently have folks drop off home baked treats and goodies at the office which we always enjoy.  Especially when they say they took every single calorie out of them before they were delivered.

 

We are continually amazed how many clients walk into our office with dog treats in their pocket for Boris.  We often wonder if they brought the treat just for Boris or if they walk around with dog treats in their pockets everyday!

 

It is truly a pleasure to work with our clients.   You are always welcome in our office, and remember the coffee is always on.

Phil Castell - Agency Owner 

Affordable Care Act
First a gentle reminder, April 17th
is approaching quickly and with that the end of Washington's extended open enrollment.  If you have a family member or neighbor who still needs coverage, now is the time to call us so we can help them obtain coverage for the rest of 2015.
Once this extension ends, those without coverage will be uninsured for the remainder of 2015.

Now I want to take a moment and share my favorite thing about the month of April, living here in Western Washington; the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

 

Click here for Website 

 

If you have never been,  it is a sight to behold.  There are acres upon acres of tulips in every color imaginable, and for those of us lucky enough to live here it is only a quick ferry ride away.  Make reservations on the ferry out of Port Townsend, cruise leisurely around Whidbey Island, stop and have a picnic at Deception Pass and head for La Conner and Mt. Vernon.  Once you are near La Conner there are signs everywhere pointing you towards different attractions.  

 

My personal favorite is Roozengaarde in Mt Vernon off 

Beaver Marsh Road.  They have several fields of tulips that are full of mind-blowing color but they also have a beautiful display garden and gift shop.  This is a lovely way to see all the varieties without stomping in the muddy fields.  They also have a field map on their website so you can easily tell which fields are blooming as you plan your trip.  

 

Click here for information 

 

As your day winds down, take a few minutes to wander through La Conner and see some of the cute shops and restaurants.  Take your time and journey back down Whidbey Island to the ferry dock.  When you get off the ferry in Port Townsend if you haven't had dinner, stop and grab a slice of pizza at Waterfront Pizza or a quick bite at The Silver Water Caf�.  As you arrive back home, take a moment and reflect on the day you have experienced.  

 

Hopefully you saw a few inspiring sights, had some delicious food, shared some great company and brought back a few handfuls of tulips to brighten your days to come.  Enjoy! 

 
Email questions and comments to:
Health & Medicare
When is being in the hospital not really being in the hospital?  

Answer
: when you are admitted through the emergency room and kept in "OBSERVATION".

"Observation is a designation that was meant to be exactly what it sounds like: a short time period during which the hospital observes you to assess whether you need to be checked in for longer-term inpatient care or whether you can be quickly treated as an outpatient and sent home." (E.Wolfson)  

 

Here is how it works and how it can cost YOU, the patient, money.   An incident occurs that you go to the emergency room with an illness.  The doctor sees you and prescribes a course of care, but you are not admitted to the hospital. Rather you are placed in a hospital room, under "observation".  Medicare allows this for up to 48 hours in rare cases, but usually 24 hours is the norm.  Unfortunately, you are kept in observation for longer than 48 hours and you assume that you have been admitted to the hospital.  You are then treated and due to circumstances you are not released to go home but rather you are released to a Skilled Nursing Facility. (SNF)   

 

Remember, under Medicare rules Medicare will only cover any Skilled Nursing Facility charges if you have had three days of prior hospital confinement.  Observation does not count as confinement, under this situation.

 

After the dust has settled and you begin to get the bills for medical services the SNF sends you a very large bill which the secondary will not pay because Medicare did not pay, because you were never admitted to the hospital.  You were in observation

 

Observation is considered outpatient treatment; therefore SNF will not be covered by Medicare.  

 

Follow this link to a very well written article by Elijah Wolfson (Senior Editor at Newsweek Magazine) that explains the whole process as well as referencing a study by Brown University, on the increasing use of "Observation" by hospitals.

 

 Click Here 

 

This is an important issue.  It can cost you thousands of dollars, so you need to be aware of it, if you or a loved one are concerned about a hospital stay.  Please at least read the article or have a spouse or representative read it and be aware of the consequences.  

 

That's all for now, get out and enjoy the spring.

 

Email questions and comments to:
Home & Auto
Anyone else have a growing "To Do List" this time of year?   With the longer, warmer days working in our favor many of us are beginning projects around the house.  Whether it's repairs around the home, landscaping projects or major renovations, Spring is a great time of year to get started.  As a Risk Advisor,  now is as good a time as any to warn you of issues with hiring people to help around your house.

Many of these projects we want done require help from others.  That may mean hiring someone to mow your lawn regularly, top the trees, pressure wash the patio or repair your sprinkler system.  If you are going to be seeking help like this, make sure you've done your homework with the contractor.  

If the person doing the work doesn't carry a license, bond and insurance you are opening yourself up for possible damage to your home and landscaping with no recourse.   

 

Think broken sprinkler line with no recourse.  

Think a partially done job and that person skipping town.  

Now not everyone out there offering service for these jobs are inherently unethical but if you are forking out your hard earned dollars a little bit of peace of mind goes a long way.  

 

Some tips when dealing with any sort of contractor this Spring and Summer: avoid those with high pressure "must buy now" sales pitches, avoid large down payments, require a bid, preferably in writing, prior to accepting an offer and be cautious of anyone unwilling to sign a contract or put things in writing.  

 

Again, most people in our community are good, reliable people but having heard some horror stories that pertain to these situations, it seems important to share with our valued clients in hopes of helping you avoid your own horror story!

 

 

Email questions and comments to:
Finance
Acronyms as a foreign language and a prize contest.

 

It seems like every industry or business in the US and probably the world lives and understands various acronyms. Even if we don't always know the exact words, we know what the acronym is referring to.

 

Here are a couple that are very common.

 

IRS ~ Ok it is April and so everyone should know I am referring to the Infernal Revenue Service, wait... did I say Infernal I really meant the Internal Revenue Service.

 

MPH ~ Get your motor running as this refers to the  

Miles Per Hour and the sibling of MPG or Miles Per Gallon. Sir Francis Drake who defeated the Spanish Armada in a great naval battle used the MPG to reference the Miles Per Galleon! Yes, another lame joke.

 

Let's explore some age related acronyms.

 

This next one is not so easy ACA.  If you are under age 65 and  have been reading the newspapers over the past few years you may know it is of course the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.

If you are over age 50 did you know you could become a member of AARP.  How many folks reading this thought that AARP stood for the American Associated of Retired People? If you did that is WRONG.  It used to stand for that, but since AARP is for folks 50 and older, and more people are working to an older age, they didn't want to be associated with just retirees.  Now AARP is just that -  AARP and is not an acronym.

 

If you are age 70 or older, you are likely familiar with RMD's. This is your Required Minimum Distribution and is an IRS amount that you are required to take out of your IRA's or 401K's each year in ever increasing percentages.

If you have any questions about your RMD situation, please feel free to give me a call and I will gladly share my knowledge and help educate you on your options.

 

In closing, here is a difficult acronym and I will present a prize for the first person who can correctly decipher the following acronym.

TANSTAAFL               Office Telephone  # 683-9284

 

 

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