Paula Harrington

Paula Harrington began working with Employer Groups in 2006 while gaining experience under another agency. She struck out on her own in 2009 to begin building a business for herself and her family. She was able to continue her work advising employers while also helping individuals and their families access affordable healthcare. She was licensed in 25 states and helped people all over the country. In 2014 when the Affordable Care Act and Marketplace Plans where offered for the first time for a Jan 1st 2015 effective date, there was a huge disruption to the market. Many brokers and consumers were lost and confused and did not know which way to turn. Each state made decisions about exchanges and certifications. Paula dug in, read the new laws, reviewed CMS guidelines, partnered with the North Texas Collation and local Navigators to inform as many people as possible about the changes to healthcare. She made it a priority to stay on the cutting edge of change and help her clients navigate the new system. Paula found other brokers asking her to help their clients or teaching them. Out of this disruption, Paula saw the need for a walk-in retail storefront where people could get face-to-face help with health insurance. People needed guidance, assurance, understanding not just on selection a new health plan, but learning a new technology portal, understanding the tax ramifications of taking a subsidy, understanding who in their family qualified for the tax subsidy and who qualified to enroll in the insurance. Paula wanted to make this complex process easy for folks. She realized coming from the Employer Group Health insurance that most people had the insurance chosen for them and they just were told to “enroll.” She envisioned The Enrollment Store. In September of 2015 Paula and her husband Chris Harrington opened the first storefront in Richardson, Texas in a busy retail shopping center. In 2018 they moved to Plano, Texas to me more central. In 2020 & 2021, Paula helped navigate her staff and agents through the Covid-19 pandemic. She was years ahead using technology platforms and virtual meetings, and able to train those agents still meeting face-to-face to shift to electronic files, forms, and virtual meetings/enrollments. Paula and The Enrollment Store staff and team of agents have helped nearly 10,000 people enroll in health insurance and access and navigate the healthcare system across the U.S. Paula still enjoys seeing her clients each year and helping them, but as more and more people still need help, she is now focused on hiring, recruiting, and training agents to do what she does. Helping people has always been her passion. Helping more agentsextendstohervisionofhelpingmorepeopleinthecommunitiesweserve. Sheisthebackboneofthe agency, here to advise the agents with their clients on the more complex cases.

On a more personal note, Paula is currently serving on the Board of Directors for her local professional trade association as a legislative key contact chair and membership key contact person. She is involved in monthly legislative updates through the state and national chapters to stay informed of state and federal laws that will impact the industry and advocate on behalf of the consumer. Paula is active at Gateway Church in Plano TX. She volunteers with students at her local church each week, is a greeter on the parking lot team. She is in a CEO group C12, and gets together once a month with other Christian business leaders to work on their business and identify ways to make improvements for employees, vendors and customers. Through her relationship with C12, she mentors a business student from the Dallas Baptist University Business School. She is also on the insurance advisory board for Collin County Community College. She works with the school to expose the students the opportunity for a career in the insurance industry and the insurance degree program at the local community college.