Governor Charlie Baker named a Methuen insurance company principal to the Massachusetts Health Connector Board of Directors Thursday.
Mark S. Gaunya, co-owner and chief information officer at Borislow Insurance, Methuen. Baker also appointed Rina Vertes, president of Marjos Business Consulting.
“The broker community plays an important role in the Massachusetts healthcare market – we are the trusted advisors businesses and consumers rely on for objective advice and counsel on their healthcare needs,” Gaunya said. “I am honored Governor Baker asked me to serve on the Massachusetts Health Connector Board of Directors. This is a busy and important time in healthcare reform, and I am excited to be participating in the challenging work going forward.”
Gaunya and Vertes will serve as two of Baker’s four appointments to the 11-member Health Connector Board. Gaunya will sit in the seat reserved by statute for a member of the broker community and Vertes will take the seat reserved for a health insurance actuary.
“The Health Connector board is hugely important to the people’s ability to access health care options and the experts we appointed today are vital to improving the once troubled system,” said Baker. “I believe people are policy and I look forward to working with these health care experts as they lead the exchange.”
Gaunya has held a number of senior leadership positions for regional and national health insurers and provider organizations in Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C., and is ACA and Self-Funding certified by the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU). Gaunya has served as the national chair of the Healthcare Cost & Quality Transparency Taskforce for NAHU, and in 2013 he was appointed to its legislative council to continue that work. He has also served as president of the Massachusetts Association of Health Underwriters (MassAHU) from 2009 to 2013. He co-authored “Bend the Healthcare Trend,” a book written to address how consumer-driven health and wellness plans lower insurance costs.