The ACA Compliance Team
The Insurance Exchange helps many businesses navigate the federal and state legislation on health care refrom and compliance.
Joseph “Jody” Buyalos, CBC (Executive Vice President and Owner, Lead Consultant – Employee Benefits)
Jody Buyalos has worked in the employee benefits field for over fourteen years. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and Old Dominion University where he graduated with a B.S. Political Science degree with a minor in Finance and has since completed work towards his MBA. Jody joined The Insurance Exchange in 1995 and heads up our Employee Benefits practice. He has introduced many of the value-added tools and services that we now use for our larger clients. Jody has worked with hundreds of employers from startups to Fortune 500 companies with employees around the globe. His portfolio of current clients ranges from several not for profit organizations, to large association headquarters, to a wide array of for profit companies. Many of his clients are government contractors. His current clients range in size from 25 employees with one benefit plan to employers with 4,000 employees and 17 different healthcare options.
Scott W. Bauer (Senior Underwriting Consultant)
Scott brings 20+ years’ experience in the Health & Welfare field as an underwriter and then large group sales executive. He holds a Bachelors of Science from University of Maryland Baltimore County in Actuarial Mathematics. Upon graduating, he began his career as an Underwriter for Prudential Healthcare. As an Underwriter, Scott worked on cases from 100 employees to 5000 employees. He set premiums for new business and renewal business for all coverage’s (Medical, Pharmacy, Dental, Life, and Disability) In addition; he also developed actuarial formulas which were used to set Prudential Healthcare’s manual rates and to create relative values for plan designs. After 3 years in Underwriting, Scott moved to a Senior Sales Executive role with Prudential Healthcare where he sold $5 Million in new revenue annually. In 1999, Scott moved on to Unicare, a Wellpoint Company where he was a Senior Sales Executive. His responsibilities at Wellpoint included $10 million in new business sales while managing a $50 million existing book of business. Scott’s responsibilities ranged from contract negotiation, managing new business implementations with the Account Manager, problem resolutions, conducting new sales and renewal presentations. He also, consulted his clients and brokers on all funding alternatives which include; Self Funding, Fully Insured, Fully Insured-Dividend Eligible, Minimum Premium, and Stop Loss. Since joining The Insurance Exchange in 2006, Scott is integral in negotiating our clients renewals and plan changes by performing his own Underwriting analysis. Scott also works with our Actuaries with respect to developing the following reports: Benchmarking, Renewal Evaluation, Self Funded Feasibility, Stop Loss Analysis, Merger & Acquisition Analysis, and Healthcare Reform Impact Study.
Jennifer LaTour (HR Compliance Specialist)
Jennifer LaTour, JD provides our clients with proactive, strategic advice pertaining to employee benefits legislation, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) compliance and reporting requirements, plan design and regulatory issues. Jennifer consults directly with our Employee Benefits clients on all matters of compliance, and leads related internal and external training initiatives. Jennifer tracks legislative changes and ensures clients are in compliance by researching, managing and communicating (federal, state, carrier) updates and maintaining relationships with senior-level contacts at carriers. Jennifer also plays an active role in following government enforcement of legislation and how it will impact clients. Jennifer is instrumental in interpreting other HR related issues such as FMLA, ERISA, HIPAA, COBRA, etc. to our clients. Jennifer’s background in HR generalist affairs, benefits, and policy analysis and compliance serves her well in the role of Human Resources Compliance Specialist at The Insurance Exchange.
