Mark Kofalt, Author at Premier Insurance Services

Medicare’s Annual Enrollment

Post author:Mark Kofalt
Post published:October 10, 2020
Post category:Personal/Family Senior Care

As Medicare Open Enrollment Nears, Here Are the Changes Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period begins Oct. 15. and runs through Dec. 7. This is the time to reassess your Medicare plans. As you get started, you should ask yourself: Am I satisfied with my current plan? Am I comfortable maintaining it for another year? Are the medications I need in my plan's formulary next year? How much can I expect to pay for my medications next year? If you are a current Medicare recipient, you should have receive your Annual Notice of Change from your Advantage plan or pharmaceutical plan…

Seven Tips: Preparing Your Home for Autumn

Post author:Mark Kofalt
Post published:September 29, 2020
Post category:Personal/Family

As the temperature starts dropping and harsher weather looms in the coming months, now is the time to get your home ready. Taking steps now to protect your home and belongings can help you enter the new season worry-free, and you might save money in the process. You can follow these tips to do just that: Clean your furnace and switch out filters Check your furnace for soot, ignition problems, pilot-light health and the state of other components to make your home ready for fall. You should also clean up dust and dirt and if you see anything that could…

Employees Choose Perks, Benefits over Salary Hikes

Post author:Mark Kofalt
Post published:September 28, 2020
Post category:Business

Great perks and incentives packages can help attract top-notch talent, maintain employee morale and improve overall engagement and satisfaction with a company. The coronavirus pandemic has made perks and benefits even more important, particularly in light of so many workers feeling burned out, stressed from working at home or feeling isolated due to closures and shelter-at-home orders. Recently, retailer Staples surveyed 1,549 employees across the U.S. about their preferences for work perks, asking them to rate how various benefits affected their motivation and if they preferred perks over higher salaries ― and which benefits were most important to them when…

Pandemic, Volatility Spur Interest in Annuities

Post author:Mark Kofalt
Post published:September 17, 2020
Post category:Personal/Family

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting changes in our lives has put physical, emotional and financial stress on a significant portion of the population, particularly seniors. A recent survey found nearly half of currently employed Americans between the ages of 56 and 75 polled said they were uncertain about when they would be able to retire as a result of the pandemic. As you may recall when the pandemic first took hold, the stock market plummeted, but has since been on a tear. This volatility has made things even more uncertain for retirees and people approaching retirement, as reflected by…

The Risks Behind Conducting Background Checks

Post author:Mark Kofalt
Post published:September 14, 2020
Post category:Business

Employers are increasingly facing lawsuits over how they handle background checks while screening job applicants. For a lesson in what can happen, take the recent class-action lawsuit filed against a Whole Foods Market Inc. store in Fresno, California. The suit alleges that the store's online form asking for job applicants' approval for criminal background checks violates the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The lawsuit seeks damages of up to $1,000 for each individual from whom Whole Foods obtained a consumer report without valid authorization, plus punitive damages and costs. Whole Foods has used the application form in question since January 2009,…

How to Buy Health Insurance If You Lose Your Job

Post author:Mark Kofalt
Post published:September 10, 2020
Post category:Personal/Family

For those who have lost jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the loss of income is only part of the hardship. Another major part is the loss of health insurance that came with the job. Amid the worst public health crisis in a century, millions of people no longer have their health coverage for this reason. What can they do to replace it? Public exchanges One avenue is the health insurance exchanges in their states. These are online marketplaces, created under the Affordable Care Act, where individuals and small employers can purchase coverage. Some states have their own exchange, while others…

Study: New Tech Helps Stop Trucks from Rear-Ending Vehicles

Post author:Mark Kofalt
Post published:September 7, 2020
Post category:Business

A new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reports that driver assistance technologies, such as automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems, have been shown to reduce accident rates among large trucks. Increased use of these systems in these vehicles should prevent countless deaths and injuries and save millions of dollars. The U.S. relies on large trucks for shipping goods, but they have always presented a serious threat to other vehicles. Often, the consequences have been fatal for drivers of passenger vehicles and costly for the trucks' owners. For example, the singer Harry Chapin died in…

Life Insurance Is There Because Life Happens

Post author:Mark Kofalt
Post published:September 4, 2020
Post category:Personal/Family

No one knows what the future holds. One moment life is unfolding exactly as you have planned, and the next, you're handed a life-changing event. That's what happened to Melissa Wandall. Nine months pregnant, she decided to put her feet up and relax after work instead of going out to eat. Mark, her husband of a year, gave her a kiss as he left to dine out with Melissa's brother. He never returned. On the way home, he was killed when another driver ran a red light and broadsided the car he was in. Just two and a half weeks…