Texas-based insurance FMO, Empower Brokerage, Inc., encourages its agents to make a difference in their communities. People need information, especially during the current Medicare Annual Election Period, spanning from October 15th through December 7th. Licensed insurance agents Rudy Rosas and Rolando Gonzalez stepped up to the plate in their home city of Laredo, TX and installed a kiosk inside the Mall Del Norte. This kiosk is equipped to share bi-lingual information with the public about Medicare. Here, they can speak to many people about health insurance in English or in Spanish.
When asked what inspired this outreach, Rosas and Gonzalez said they were inspired by two agents who were doing something similar in the state of Florida. âMost agents donât do things like this because of the effort and expense required,â Rosas said. The agents said they chose Mall Del Norte as the prime location because the Florida agents used their mall as the main enrollment place to sign up customers. This is important because in a high traffic area, such as a shopping mall, they can help many more people in a shorter period of time.  The Laredo Mall Del Norte is in a high-trafficked area that caters to most of the Webb county population. This made it an ideal spot for their message to reach a significant number of Medicare aged people.
To get the kiosk ready for presentation, Rosas and Gonzales brainstormed ideas and spoke to William Bronson, the Marketing Director at Empower Brokerage. After carefully selecting the right pieces to convey their message, they placed the marketing materials order and began preparations. The kiosk was ready the week before the October 15th Medicare season kickoff.
According to Rosas, they donât just want to help Medicare customers. They also want to help those under 65 years of age with ACA or other health insurance, and business owners with group coverage options.
They state that the kiosk will be beneficial to the community, because, âitâs an information center. People donât really know what the terms mean, such as ACA, AEP, Medigap, Marketplace, etc. Many people donât know ACA still exists and many seniors donât know what their benefits and choices are. They need to be well informed, so they can make the best decision for their families. We want to educate the community as well as people in other areas.â
Rosas and Gonzalez hope to establish the kiosk permanently, to become known as a place people can come for answers.
Mr. Gonzalez said they hope the project is successful enough that they can recruit other agents to help them, which will allow them to serve more people.
The Mall Del Norte is located at 5300 San Dario Ave, Laredo, TX 78041 and is open from 10AM to 9PM Monday through Saturday, and 11AM to 7PM on Sunday.
Empower Brokerage provides several online educational resources, including information for Medicare (https://empowermedicaresupplement.com/), Health Insurance (https://empowerhealthinsuranceusa.com/), and Life Insurance (https://empowerlifeinsurance.com/).
