Newsletter - Columbia River Insurance Services

If you've had Medicare Part B for longer than 12 months, you can have an annual wellness visit. One big advantage of this wellness visit is to develop or update your personalized health prevention help plan.  Your provider will ask you to fill out a questionnaire, called a “Health Risk Assessment,” as part of this visit. Answering these questions can help you and your provider develop a personalized prevention plan to help you stay healthy and get the most out of your visit. It also includes:

• A review of your medical and family history
• Developing or updating a list of current providers and prescriptions
• Height, weight, blood pressure, and other routine measurements
• Detection of any cognitive impairment
• Personalized health advice
• A list of risk factors and treatment options for you
• A screening schedule (like a checklist) for appropriate preventive services. 

Wellness visits can actually increase your health by creating an illness prevention plan. It is important for your healthcare professional to get involved in your health management, especially if you have specific health conditions, such as high blood pressure, or diabetes. 
Since the first day that we opened our agency, it has been our focus and desire to offer our clients the best insurance options available to meet their needs.

As a local independent agency, we represent many companies. We always maintain and deliver personal attention and strive for first class customer service. Our expertise lies within our well trained and experienced agents.

We value your feedback and we want to hear from you. There are a number of ways for you to get in touch with us.

If you would like to speak to us right away, please call us today and speak to any of our experienced Medicare insurance agents. In Vancouver, please call us at 360.883.5776. In Portland, please call us at 503.382.9091. If email is your preference, you may email us at [email protected]

In the fast-paced world that we live in it can be easy to neglect our health and wellness. We're so busy racing through our day to day lives family, friends, work, social engagements that we don't take the time to look after ourselves. It is no wonder that so many of us are tired and run down. What are some simple things that we can do to improve our quality of life?

Drink, Drink, Drink

You've heard it a million times, and you'll probably hear it a million more drink more water!
Think about it: The human body is 72% water. A 5% drop in fluids creates a 25-30% loss in energy. A 15% drop in fluids causes death! At this point, 66% of us aren't drinking enough water, so over half the population is not running on all six cylinders, to begin with before things like bad air, bad food and stress take their toll.
It's not really a difficult thing to remedy. Just drink one glass of water every half hour or so or 10-12 glasses of water per day, and you'll notice a huge jump in your energy levels.

Living Food Loving Life!

A little-known fact is that heating food above 116F destroys much of the nutrient content. Considering that we already aren't eating enough veggies, that's a fairly substantial problem. Nutritionists recommend five serves of fresh vegetables per day. How many of us are taking that advice?

A great way to get the nutrients found in fresh veggies without spending all day at the stove or eating raw celery sticks is to juice your veggies. Make sure that you own a good juicer (some juicers expose vegetables to heat created by friction during juicing, which breaks down important enzymes), grab some fresh vegetables and drink your way to good health. It takes a fraction of the time (there's no cooking involved, for one thing) and it's convenient. You can take your juice to work and even give some to the littlies for school lunches!
Wheatgrass, in particular, is an excellent source of nutrition. Its high in chlorophyll (sometimes described as plant blood because it closely resembles human red blood cell molecules) and has over 100 elements that the body needs. Fresh grains are another excellent source for vitamins and minerals.
 
 

A healthy body is a happy body, and there’s no better way to preserve your health and your family’s health than with a health insurance policy from Columbia River Insurance Services.

Let’s face it, medical treatments aren’t cheap. Without health insurance coverage you could end up paying off medical bills for the rest of your life. Columbia River Insurance Services can help you find an affordable healthcare plan that’s right for you. Contact one of our friendly agents today to learn more.

 
 


 

There are two types of disability policies: Short-Term Disability (STD) and Long-Term Disability (LTD):

1. Short-Term Disability policies (STD) have a waiting period of 0 to 14 days with a maximum benefit period of no longer than two years.
2. Long-Term Disability policies (LTD) have a waiting period of several weeks to several months with a maximum benefit period ranging from a few years to the rest of your life.

Disability policies have two different protection features that are important to understand.

1. Noncancelable means the policy cannot be canceled by the insurance company, except for nonpayment of premiums. This gives you the right to renew the policy every year without an increase in the premium or a reduction in benefits.
2. Guaranteed renewable gives you the right to renew the policy with the same benefits and not have the policy canceled by the company. However, your insurer has the right to increase your premiums as long as it does so for all other policyholders in the same rating class as you.

In addition to the traditional disability policies, there are several options you should consider when purchasing a policy:

• Additional purchase options 
  Your insurance company gives you the right to buy additional insurance at a later time.
• Coordination of benefits 
  The amount of benefits you receive from your insurance company is dependent on other benefits you receive because of your disability. Your policy specifies a target amount you will receive from all the policies combined, so this policy will make up the difference not paid by other policies.
• Cost of living adjustment (COLA) 
  The COLA increases your disability benefits over time based on the increased cost of living measured by the Consumer Price Index. You will pay a higher premium if you select the COLA.
• Residual or partial disability rider  
  This provision allows you to return to work part-time, collect part of your salary and receive a partial disability payment if you are still partially disabled.
• Return of premium 
  This provision requires the insurance company to refund part of your premium if no claims are made for a specific period of time declared in the policy.
• Waiver of premium provision
  This clause means that you do not have to pay premiums on the policy after you’re disabled for 90 days.

When it comes to cooking healthy meals for our families, there is always some degree of disagreement among the ranks. The good news is that there are recipes that are very healthy, but the healthy nature of these recipes is somewhat disguised. What they do not know in these instances truly should not bring harm their way (outside of allergies, which should never be ignored).

Healthy cooking is often difficult as most of us do not want to spend time planning and preparing meals that our families refuse to eat. At the same time, we want our families to be healthy, so we feel compelled to learn new and improved ways of cooking healthy foods for our family to enjoy

With weight and nutrition being known as the culprit in so many health conditions it is impossible to ignore the importance of not only eating healthy ourselves but also of teaching our children the importance of eating healthy. One way to ensure that your loved ones are eating healthy is to make sure that you are cooking healthy and nutritious foods for them.

Many books and magazines are filled with recipes that encourage healthy cooking and eating habits. If you truly love to cook, then there is no shortage of recipes that you can try out along the way. The really good news is that you can incorporate healthy cooking into your cooking routine whether you are cooking for one or a household of ten.

Many will argue that cooking healthy food costs more than cooking the prepackaged foods that pack on the calories and additives. The truth of the matter is that when you compare the costs with the medical bills of the future for failing to do so, they seem rather slight by comparison. Yes, good food costs more money. In many cases, that is a simple fact of life. However, by learning portion control and eating the proper portions, you may discover that you are spending less as you adjust to the proper amounts of food you should be consuming to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle.
 
Cooking healthy isn’t an overnight change; it is a lifestyle change that should be implemented one step at a time. You do not have to go into your kitchen and throughout every little thing that you deem ‘unhealthy’ only work not to buy more of these items once they’ve been used. Make wiser decisions when purchasing fats for food preparation and you will discover that you’ve made a vitally important step in the process of incorporating healthy cooking and eating habits in your home.

It’s those small steps you take towards your goal of cooking healthy foods for your family that will matter far more than any giant leap. Before you know it, you will find that you all have more energy and a better sense of overall health than you would have imagined before changing your cooking habits.

All of us at Columbia River Insurance Services would like to wish you a happy and quite love(ly) Valentines Day!

Personal Umbrella Insurance Offers Real Peace Of Mind
You’ve worked hard to earn your lifestyle. Consider adding additional liability protection to your Whidbey Island Auto, Home, Renters or Condo policy. Personal Umbrella Liability coverage added to your other policies can protect you, your spouse and any relatives living in your home for $1 million or more.

Umbrella Protection
Umbrella Insurance provides extra protection or limits above the liability insurance you currently have. Just as an umbrella protects you from heavy rain, an umbrella insurance policy protects you from losing the entirety of your wealth and assets in the event of a claim. Umbrella insurance can provide limits above your business insurance, personal auto and home policies.

Umbrella insurance provides broad insurance beyond traditional insurance. It provides additional liability coverage above the limits of your primary insurance policies. It can also provide coverage for claims that may be excluded by the primary policies

It is true that personal umbrella insurance may not be for business or individual, but if you are a business, wanting to protect your company’s resources, building financial resources for your future, are a professional, own your home, boat or recreation vehicle, you should consider an umbrella insurance policy.  Having the added protection of an umbrella insurance policy is coverage no one should go without. Call us today, for a free review.

High Net Worth Individuals
Do you own a boat, second home or have other expensive toys? Often high net worth individuals need higher liability limits to protect personal assets. A simple rule is, the more you own the greater risk you may have of losing it. The nice thing about an umbrella policy is that it is competitively priced. Usually, it costs about $300 per year for each $1,000,000 increment of insurance that you buy, and it can bring you great piece of mind.