Audrey Morse Gasteier Named Acting Executive Director of Massachusetts Health Connector

BOSTON — Marylou Sudders, secretary of Health and Human Services and board chair of the Massachusetts Health Connector, announced that Audrey Morse Gasteier, current deputy executive director and chief of Policy and Strategy of the Massachusetts Health Connector, has been appointed acting executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector. Gasteier will succeed Louis Gutierrez, who retired from public service after having served as executive director of the Health Connector since February 2015.

Gasteier has served at the Massachusetts Health Connector since 2012, leading policy development and strategy related to the Health Connector’s role as the state’s Affordable Care Act health-insurance marketplace. She is also an instructor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“The Health Connector provides affordable healthcare for more than 275,000 Massachusetts residents by creating low barriers to coverage and implementing support services for members,” Sudders said. “I am confident that Audrey will further advance access to high-quality healthcare in the Commonwealth by helping people find the coverage they need.”

Prior to joining the Health Connector in 2012, Gasteier served as director of Health Systems Policy at the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, where she led health-coverage research initiatives and directed implementation of employer-related elements of state health reform. She also served as a policy analyst at the Assoc. of Community Human Service Agencies in Los Angeles. She holds a master’s degree in health policy and management from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College.

“I’m grateful to Secretary Sudders for this appointment at a time when the Health Connector is positioned to help hundreds of thousands of people gain access to high-value, affordable health insurance,” Gasteier said. “The Health Connector continues Open Enrollment through January 23, helping residents without insurance get covered, and extensive preparation is ongoing for the upcoming end of federal COVID-related Medicaid protections. This will enable hundreds of thousands of people expected to transition from MassHealth coverage to become eligible for low-cost Health Connector coverage and preserve their access to healthcare.”