Resource center for health insurance opens in Rio Rancho

RIO RANCHO — People confused or concerned about their health insurance situation now have a place to get help.

Health Insurance Resource Center, located on NM 528 near Sara Road, officially opened a couple of weeks ago but celebrated the opening Sept. 30.

Owner Jami Cartagena said she and her husband Hermes were in the building for a few years before the opportunity came about to start their own business.

“They decided to not renew the lease, and I didn’t want to leave this place, you know. We’ve been here for three years now, and all our clients know where we’re at, and I didn’t want to move. So, we ended up taking over the space, taking over the lease and rebranding to the Health Insurance Resource Center,” Cartagena said.

Though the process has been a learning curve, she said she is excited to help the community not only in Rio Rancho but the entire state.

“I’ve been in New Mexico since 2003, and I love New Mexico. I love the people, I love the culture, I love the weather that we have and it’s easy to stay here in New Mexico and help other families with their health insurance,” she said.

She got her insurance agent license in 2019 and has been acquiring more clients every year since, she added. She originally wanted to go into nursing but eventually found she could help people with health insurance with a focus on helping people understand the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Medicaid and just health insurance in general.

Cartagena also said she sees a growing need for this kind of help in Rio Rancho “because there’s a lot of people retiring and people moving here from other states to retire.”

“The under-65 population for the Affordable Care Act is where I’m starting to grow more because everybody needs health insurance, and the New Mexico Medicaid is doing a lot of their unwinding. A lot of people are getting kicked off of Medicaid,” she said.

For Cartagena, the resource center is the best place for people to go because it is first and foremost local as well as personal.

“You’re not talking to somebody over the phone. If you want to come in and sit down and have a cup of coffee with me, I am totally OK with that,” she said.

For more information, visit healthinsuranceresourcecenter.org.