CASTELL INSURANCE NEWSLETTER
A local agency providing GREAT  local service!                           June 2015
Phil
Castell
John
Coulson
James 
Castell
Stephany 
Shackelford
Christy 
Francis
Andrea
Wellman
Sharon Castell
In This Issue
Home & Auto
Health & Medicare
Finance
Quick Links
 
 
 
Phone:
 360-683-9284

Email:
info@castellinsurance.com
Christy's Choice 

Saturday
August 8, 2015
10:00AM

 

Relay for Life

started in May 1985 by Dr. Gordy Klatt who walked and ran for 24 hours around a track in Tacoma, Washington - raising $27,000 to help the American Cancer Society fight the nation's biggest health concern - cancer.  

 

Since those first steps, the Relay for Life

has grown into a worldwide event raising nearly $5 billion to fight cancer.

 

This year the NEW venue is The Sequim City Civic Center
601 N Sequim Ave
  10:00 AM - 10:00 PM

 

Come and bid on the Silent Auction items from

10:00 AM-8:00 PM

 

OPENING CEREMONY IS AT 10:00 AM

 

SURVIVOR LAP IS AT  

11:00 AM

 

COMMUNITY DANCE  

STARTS AT 6:30 PM

 

LUMINARIA CEREMONY 

9:00 PM

 

CLOSING CEREMONY  

9:45 PM

 

Why I chose to support this event?   

It's overwhelming to think that millions of people will be diagnosed with  

cancer this year.   

It might be someone close to us - or you or me... 

 

A Relay For Life event is not only a way to join our community to fight back against cancer, but it is also a way to inspire hope by raising funds and cancer awareness to help those facing the disease.  

 

It also looks like a fun event and we are looking forward to our first  

Relay For Life event.

 

Why we're Fundraising? This is our opportunity to honor the cancer survivors in our life, remember friends and family we have lost, and help raise funds to support the

American Cancer Society's
lifesaving mission.

 

We have signed up to fund-raise and walk in our local Relay For Life event. We hope you will consider joining our team or making a donation in support of our efforts.

There are several ways you can participate:

 

You can join our team

"Cancer Crusaders"

Click here to Join

 

You can donate by mail:   

PO Box 1929,  

          Sequim, WA 98382

 

Donate at our office 

Castell Insurance  

 

Donate online  

Click here to Donate

 

You can Dedicate a Luminaria in honor of or in memory of a loved one that has had cancer.  

Click here to
Dedicate a Luminaria

 

We would like to thank you in advance for any support to this much needed organization. 

Christy Francis  

Andrea the
Dog Rescuer
 
Are You My Mother?   
 
A few weeks ago, we had a little four legged friend find her way to the office, without any ID on her collar.  I took her down to Greywolf Veterinary Hospital and they were incredibly helpful with scanning her for a microchip; unfortunately the chip was never registered and no owner information was found.
 
Back to the office we went...she drank some water and James attempted to guess the little ladies name; Ginger? Lady?  Roxy? Muffins? Hmmmm not a response!

   
After posting her picture and info on a few local community sites, her real mother called and was so relieved to hear that "LILLY" was ok.  Turned out Lilly's vet was from the  Greywolf Veterinary Hospital, and the owner had called asking if anyone had found her.  How lucky was that?  All's well that ends well and dog and owner were happily reunited. 

  

As the weather heats up, and your furry friends spend more time outside, remembering to check their ID's, collar's, and microchip's for current information will help any animal find home fast if they happen to sneak out while you're out.

Andrea Wellman  

Let the month of June begin!  Thanks to all who joined us this year on May 9th for our Irrigation Parade BBQ.   Four sets of bleachers were full and many personal chairs added at the front of our office.  This years' weather was fantastic and we cooked over 200 burgers and hot dogs too! 

This is such a great opportunity to thank you all and celebrate the beginning of summer with the oldest continuing festival in Washington State.
Affordable Care Act
Over the last 18 months many of our clients have enrolled in health insurance plans via the
Washington State Health Plan Finder the Exchange. This month this article is for those folks who enrolled that way.  

 

Unfortunately many of you have experienced billing challenges related to how the Exchange creates invoices and processes premiums.  I am excited to let you know we are finally seeing a move by the Exchange to resolve these types of problems.  As of the October invoice, the bills will be created and mailed to you by your insurance carrier (Premera, MODA, or Lifewise). Beginning now, you may start paying your carrier directly via mail.  All you need to do is mail your check and the invoice the Exchange generates to the appropriate insurance carrier address listed below.

 

On your check you need to make sure you write your policy ID number that is shown on your insurance card.

 

Premera or Lifewise

Attention: Payment Processing

PO BOX 91060

Seattle, WA 98111-9160

 

MODA

MODA Health

PO BOX 4220

Portland, OR 97208-4220

 

If you are on auto-pay with the Exchange you may continue to have those payments taken out automatically until the September 23, 2015 payment,  or you can cancel your auto-pay by calling the Exchange at 1-855-923-4633 or logging onto your dashboard at www.wahealthplanfinder.org.

 

If you elect to stop auto-pay I would suggest you pay your monthly premium via check for the rest of 2015.

At this time the carriers are not set-up to allow you to auto-pay directly with them. 

This feature will be available in the future.

 

I apologize for the inconvenience this may create but long term this is going be a much better billing and invoicing system that will be more efficient and reliable for you in the future.

 

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to call me or send me an email at   Stephany@castellinsurance.com.

 

Please be patient as we work through this transition and know that this is a positive change that will eliminate many problems in the future.

 

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Home & Auto
Newsflash!  Texting and driving is now LEGAL! 
Okay, well not yet but in a handful of years it likely will be. 
The innovation of self-driving cars will transform transportation as we have come to know it.
Many experts predict that vehicles will be able to drive themselves and will be a significant portion of vehicles on the road by 2020.  We have already seen the emergence of self-parking vehicles that take the worries of parallel parking out of driving.  Imagine hopping in your car, entering the address in the GPS and pulling out your favorite paper or book to read while being driven to your destination.  

 

This presents so many questions in my mind regarding insurance, liability, damages to vehicles, COST of these vehicles!

 

Although there are lots of unknowns around this growing concept, there is no doubt in my mind that this will be a part of our future.  One of the largest tech companies, Google, is leading the way in this technology.  

 

To date, they have had their self-driving cars on the road for over 1 million miles with no major accidents.   

 

Check out this fun video of one of their prototypes of a self-driving vehicle without a steering wheel!   Click Here 

 

15 years ago a "smartphone" would have seemed like something from the movie BACK TO THE FUTURE.  Now over 60% of Americans have them.  If this technology can improve the safety of our road, prepare yourselves for that relaxing "drive" to work or the city with your favorite book or morning paper

to enjoy on the way!

  
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Health & Medicare
What's happening in the
Medicare world? 
Well it is pretty quiet as of June 1st. 
 
Rate increases have happened for AARP members, with Plan F now $194.25 per month for a single person, and $184.54 per person for a married couple.

AARP Plan N is now $127.25 for a single and  $121.36 for a married couple.
 
Premera Plan F is now $188.00 and Regence Plan F is $184.00 per person per month. Silver Sneakers Fitness Program is included on the Regence Medicare Supplement Plans.
 
Mutual of Omaha/United of Omaha will not be raising their rate on Plan G for 2016.  It will remain at $157.71 for a single and $146.67 per month per person for a married couple.  Plan F with Mutual of Omaha will be increasing 6% to over $204.00 per person.  Some of the rate increases occurred on Jan 1st 2015 with the rest occurring either
April 1st or July 1st.

AARP and United of Omaha do offer discounts to married couples. 
 

Remember in Washington you have the ability to switch Medicare Supplement plans with no waiting periods, no pre-existing and no health questions, at anytime of year.

 

If you would like to review your options please give us a call.

 

While we have the ability to change Medicare Supplements year around the same is not true with Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage Plans.  Open enrollment for these plans is from Oct. 15th to December 7th for a January 1st effective date.  If you are turning  age 65, leaving group coverage, or have just moved to the area, these are all special enrollment periods, and we can help.

 

If you know someone who is turning 65 this Summer give them our number and have them call us.  We can help them walk through the maze of Medicare and Social Security.

 

We thank you for the trust  you have placed in our office, and thank you for all of the referrals that we have been getting from you.

 

Take care and enjoy the sun, but not too much.

 

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Finance
Fried Chicken or Blackpool, England?

 

Wow, with a title heading like this I just know I have your attention.

I decided that this month I would share some random thoughts about two subjects near and dear to my heart.

 

First let me start with fried chicken, a subject close to my heart in more ways than one!

Back when I was visiting clients in their homes all over the region I quickly developed an affinity for gas station and convenience store fried chicken.

 

My personal favorite here in Sequim is from Kettle's 76 gas station located at 2nd and Washington.  They offer regular chicken as well as a delicious Tandoori chicken with zesty Indian spices.  In addition, they have a wide range of other Indian delicacies, so please stop by and try the food.

 

Hardy's Market at the roundabout on Old Olympic was famous (at least in my mind) for Fried Chicken Friday.  Unfortunately, it was to be short lived.  The story I heard was that the plant that made the coating burned down and they could not find another source for the coating.  Maybe the secret recipe of 31 seasonings went up in smoke too!

 

Another top contender just a little further away,  is at the Hilltop Gas station just on the other side of the Hood Canal Bridge.  Here, they use a brand called Coopers Fried Chicken and I am including a link so you might experience the visual appeal.  I LOVE IT!

 

 

At a recent Chamber of Commerce Board meeting I brought up the subject of fried chicken and I really opened a can of worms.  It seems everyone has their personal favorites, so please feel free to share you favorite fried chicken places with me.

 

Most of our clients know I am originally from England, but many might not know which part.  This is my second topic this month.

 

The town I am from is called Blackpool and it is a large seaside resort in the North West of England just below the Lake District.  It is virtually unknown in the US as American tourists want to go to the UK to see the history and culture not a UK version of Coney Island.

 

Blackpool's claim to fame is a tower built by Eifel at a 50% scale of his tower in Paris, it measures 518 feet.  

 

Back in the late 1800's Blackpool was a very fashionable place for a family to take their annual "holiday", and it reached it's heyday in the 1950' and 1960's.  After that travel to Europe became popular for the warm weather and Blackpool tourism declined.

 

The reason I am sharing this is because of a recent video of an aerial view of the town from a drone.   

 

Click here to see Blackpool

 

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