BEC Orientation Series: BenefitsCheckUp

Allyson comes to NCOA from Evolent Health Care, where she worked as a Customer Care Coordinator. While there she was responsible for handling customer service requests, communicating with physician’s offices to verify authorization information, developing relationships with provider groups, and making triage decisions not requiring clinical judgement. Allyson also worked as a Senior Care Coordinator and a Senior Customer Service Advisor for CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield, a Care Coordinator for AmeriHealth Caritas, and a Case Specialist for INTotal Health. Allyson brings a wealth of practical knowledge about benefits and has experience implementing regulations/policies in the insurance industry, as well as experience working with Medicaid offices in DC and Virginia.

Darren Hotton has over 20 years of experience helping Medicare beneficiaries, family members, and caregivers navigate the Medicare and Medicaid landscape. He was the Director of Utah Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIP), Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP), and Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) for 18 years. Darren's mission is to empower, educate, and assist older adults to access all benefits, and age well on their own terms.

she/her/hers

Jen Teague is the Director for Health Coverage and Benefits at NCOA. She has over 15 years of experience working on behalf of older adults and their families. Jen’s previous roles have included working with the North Carolina Division of Aging and Adult Services, overseeing adult protective services and managing local non-profit organizations.  She has significant experience working with community-based organization (CBO) committees, taskforces, and providing education, information and resources to older adults, key stakeholders, and elected officials. Jen states her passion is ensuring that older adults can access services and supports that allow them to age with dignity and choice. Jen has a Masters degree in Community Counseling and a Bachelors degree in Sociology both from Appalachian State University.

Nicole leads NCOA’s digital economic security team – responsible for the product development, content management, customer service, and partner engagement for BenefitsCheckUp, Age Well Planner and My Medicare Matters. These digital tools are built around NCOA’s multi-faceted consumer engagement model – providing (1) unbiased education from a trusted source, (2) personalized insights via assessments and tools, and (3) the opportunity to take action by engaging with an expert. Primarily targeting older adults and their caregivers to improve their health and financial security, the tools support NCOA’s social impact goal to impact the health and economic security of 40 million older adults by 2030, especially women, people of color, LGBTQ+, low-income, and rural individual. 

Kenny is the Contact Center Manager for Adelante Development Center, Inc.    She has 10 years’ experience working on behalf of the Adelante NCOA Benefits Enrollment Center in Albuquerque, NM. In that time, we have submitted 11,948 benefits applications.   Previous experience includes Claims Supervisor for Molina Healthcare of New Mexico.  Billing Manager for Heritage Healthcare Services, Claims Recovery Manager for Provider Services and Medicaid Billing Manager for Forensic Therapy Services.

Ann brings over fourteen years’ experience in the areas of business design and implementation, financial oversight, contract compliance, and organizational leadership. As CEO of Oryx Solutions, Ann provides training and technical assistance to non- profit organizations. Her professional experience includes providing financial and programmatic leadership as the COO of the largest service provider to homeless and low-income women in D.C. Ann earned an M.B.A. from The George Washington University.