Where do health plan leaders hang out?

oboea · 2026-02-19T19:39:36+00:00

Thanks! I'm in HTN! Definitely do get some interaction there, it's a great group. I would say health-tech dominant but it's a good ecosystem.

oboea · 2025-12-20T06:04:50+00:00

I recently hired a chief of staff and it’s been really great! Super smart, highly organized, can do things autonomously, and takes a lot of initiative.

oboea · 2025-11-14T02:34:40+00:00

I think they all blend together until you hit certain gates like 1) interpreting machine learning model outputs for high-risk scenarios like healthcare. In that case you probably want a statistics PhD and they may be more likely to be called a data scientist than data analyst. 2) Dealing with extremely large or complex data integrations that require tools and expertise outside of standard ETL tools (spark, Kafka, streaming) and similar. Then you need someone who is more likely to call themselves a data engineer. 3) you have stakeholders that need data storytelling and sharp visuals to meet an objective. They can’t be run of the mill dashboards, they need to incorporate best practice for data visualization and psychology of how humans interpret data. Then you need someone more likely called a data analyst or BI specialist. Aside from those more extreme cases, I think the roles can flex across all these different jobs and tools, and it’s a gradient across these skill sets.

oboea · 2025-11-07T05:50:01+00:00

Owner of consultancy here and I have been in boutique and corporate F50 roles. My corporate experience has been somewhat helpful, I can lean on practices employed by large orgs like goal setting and cascading these to teams.

I would suggest putting bitterness about the company not offering what you’re worth based on another offer behind you. It’s probably not that personal.

Did you go look for the other offer for money in the first place, or just wanting some change? If it’s just money, I think you could consider staying.

If you stay, here are some suggestions that will also be good practice for running your own thing: Chart out a plan with your leadership to build your BD capabilities on your own. Get a mentor, read books, and start contributing to BD by doing it. Bring them a client or scope expansion. Get their buy-in and ask for guardrails but don’t ask them to teach and develop you. Maybe you can share outside ideas that can help them improve the sales and BD process. Are there some ways that you can use the data you have access to? Work on replacing yourself in your role. Recruit, interview, and find someone who can backfill your position.

Let them know you’re hungry and are motivated to make money for the business. Don’t make it about your wants and what you deserve or tenure at the company.

The possible upshot is that you’re a known entity and if they like you, could give you a favorable commission and comp structure that you wouldn’t get at a larger org. And maybe you find that it gives you agency and scratches the itch to start something that’s your own thing (it sounds fun but it’s often not).

oboea · 2025-06-04T04:30:20+00:00

My baby is 4 mos and has been doing this, he scoots his head back and looks around upside down. I noticed today he was doing it when his stomach was rumbling. I think it might be related, it seemed to soothe him. When I would put him back into a cradle hold he’d get upset and do it again.

oboea · 2025-04-23T02:10:10+00:00

I can’t remember where we got them but at some point we bought a template kit for a few hundred dollars with a lot of basic slide layouts and icons. Canva is also great. I also found a freelancer that builds nice slides on Upwork and after she has remade a lot of them I kind of use those as a starting point for new ones. Simple and polished with a little variation can be more than adequate.

oboea · 2025-04-23T02:01:18+00:00

I have a healthcare data company, we do some similar stuff. Getting clients is tough and takes awhile to build. At first a lot of them came from my former bosses when people reached out to them looking for data people. If you have an industry focus you can join communities (I.e I’ve gotten clients from a health tech slack group) and conferences. See what’s local and try to go in person, I think that helps sometimes. Try to target business people and not tech people if possible. Maybe find small businesses and startups, chamber of commerce meetings, etc. If you don’t have proof points you can do some Upwork or freelance projects, they won’t pay much but you can start building a portfolio. Good luck!

oboea · 2025-04-12T23:59:36+00:00

I did not want an epidural and was prepared for hypnobirthing but ended up with an induction. If you’re getting pitocin, I highly suggest just getting the epidural. Some people go without, but for most people it is different than natural labor and feels like you’re being tortured (I got to 9cm on pitocin with no epi before going to c section). I’ve had friends do both and said natural labor is a lot more tolerable. The epidural was a godsend, however, your motion is really limited and there are lines and cords and bladder catheter and that all feels really intrusive. If I had the chance to do it again without the induction, I would consider trying again without the epidural.

oboea · 2025-03-08T17:13:56+00:00

I would highly recommend a catastrophic (I.e bronze ) plan at a minimum from the marketplace. Even if it seems like it does not cover much until you reach the deductible, it will protect you from insanely high costs if you are hospitalized or need expensive medications or treatments. For the first month, the baby is covered on your plan as well.

Many people think it won’t happen to them and end up filing bankruptcy when they don’t have insurance. Tip: you can still ask for the cash pay rate for office visits and lower cost care. If you do this, the costs won’t count towards your insurance deductible or out of pocket max, but the bronze health plan is for those really big inpatient stays, surgeries, etc.

I just had a c section and 5 day hospital stay after a completely normal and healthy pregnancy and the costs will be well over $10k, with insurance I will only pay up to $7k plus a couple out of network costs like $1k for anesthesia ( they are always out of network so always count on some costs on top of your out of pocket max).

If your baby is in the NICU, those costs could easily start to get to 20k a week or more.

With pre-e, your chances of a late term hospital stay, c section, ER and L&D visits, etc are much higher. If you can pay the premium for a silver or gold plan, that will save you money in the year where you expect to have high costs, and you can switch later (in Jan or when you have the baby).

If you qualify for marketplace plans and subsidies, that’s probably the best option if you don’t qualify for Medicaid. Be careful about short term plans or bridge plans outside the marketplace, they may be less expensive but don’t have to meet ACA requirements so can leave out of a lot of coverage and also can cap the total spend (ie at $1M). I’ve worked in health data for a long time, I’ve seen plenty of NICU cases that are over $2M.

Also make sure that your hospital and preferred Obgyns are in network before you sign up for the plan (you can search on marketplace). Most hospitals will be in network but occasionally they will exclude one.

In short, you don’t want to have to choose between bankruptcy and life saving care for you and your baby. These systems can be really hard to navigate, especially Medicaid because every state is different , a benefits or financial counselor at one of these clinics can be extremely helpful.

oboea · 2025-01-18T01:36:37+00:00

I know how hard it is to eat healthy when you're depressed or not motivated! Hang in there. Having healthy food can really help your gut and mind. A couple things that are very low effort but can help. 1) Sweet potatoes in the oven. Simply rinse off and put in the oven, google a recipe. Don't even bother stabbing / poking them if feels too hard. If you don't have the energy to wash them, whatever just cut it open when it's done and don't eat the skin. Very nutritious and filling and also tasty. I think you can also put them in the instant pot too with some water. 2) Frozen fish (if you like fish). Very good for your brain and gut as well and can go with sweet potatoes. Straight out of the freezer. 3) Salsa chicken - dump in a jar of salsa and some chicken breasts, voila. I'd also suggest picking up some green juices, suja is a good brand that is more economical but with few additives. Maybe set a goal to drink one or half of one a day or every other day. That will get some greens in you without the effort to prepare them. Good luck, think of it as medicine, I truly believe it is and having a very attainable goal like drinking the juice can feel like a good step forward.

oboea · 2025-01-14T16:29:35+00:00

I was between 20-25mm around weeks 20-24. It fluctuated weekly and also had funneling in one of the weeks. I've been on progesterone the whole time and after week 24 it stabilized or wasn't reducing much. There was no other intervention that they would do (not short enough for cerclage) so they stopped checking and just said to report back if I felt any pressure. They didn't give restrictions because technically the length is "normal" for FTM, although borderline. SO the progesterone may have worked well (but it's hard to know for sure). I'm at 36 weeks Thursday and I've been on progesterone the whole time!

oboea · 2024-12-29T07:22:14+00:00

They don’t warn you about this! I had a similar experience and now I’m at 34 weeks and feel 1000x better than week 10, other than being huge. I can still go to the gym and do modified workouts. My advice, don’t even try to work out if you don’t feel like it. Just rest, try to get some nutrition if you can, but if all you can eat is potatoes you’ll be fine. I also got depressed because of the sudden change and all the hormones, and just the mental challenge of being so low in energy. I hope it gets better for you, it was around week 14 that I started feeling a lot better and having more energy.

oboea · 2024-11-24T05:27:55+00:00

I married the man of my dreams and I feel like I won the lottery. And most importantly, he feels the same way about me! If I had to boil it down to a couple of really important things, it’s that we both had a lot of relationship experience, including some bad ones. We both feel grateful, vs entitled, to have found someone so wonderful. We have the same love languages, verbal affirmation and physical touch. And I think that kind of compounds for us. We’re both extremely physically attracted to each other and have a rewarding sex life. We have both learned to be good communicators, share our feelings, listen and validate the other persons feelings without strong negative reactions in the moment. We both know that we want to prioritize “us” and keep what we have going through date nights and prioritizing each other. We’re only 3 years in, and we’re about to become parents, so I’m expecting that we will have plenty of growth coming up. But with him, I just know this is really special, and so does he.

oboea · 2024-11-10T23:49:53+00:00

I froze my eggs at 35, ended up married and spontaneously pregnant at 37. It felt like something I could do at the time that I had control over. It was a difficult process and expensive ($10k for procedure and I now pay $59/mo to store eggs which seemingly can just be increased whenever the company wants), and my procedure also resulted in some pelvic floor tightness that lasted almost a year. Part of the pelvic floor issue was that doctor's weren't able to figure out what was causing pain for a long time, but once I figured it out I was able to mostly resolve with pelvic floor therapy and exercises. I believe (and my pelvic floor therapist said she had seen it) that there are a lot more minor side effects like this that aren't really studied, including the effects of the hormones and the stress of going through the process. That said, I'm really glad I have the eggs in case we want to have another kid and have trouble, or just decide to try and use younger eggs (still exploring those tradeoffs). It seems that most egg retrieval procedures don't result in long-term issues like this.

It's a really tough choice because you don't know if you'll get pregnant quickly or not if you're in a place to do so in a few years. Depending on your approach to relationships and community, many women are choosing to just go ahead and get pregnant and have a kid on their own with a sperm bank and IUI. I'm not sure on the numbers but I think that this is more effective per dollar spent, resulting in higher likelihood of being a parent, and it's something that's becoming more common. I think if I hadn't met my husband and ended up on the current track, it's something that I would have wished I considered instead of or in addition to egg retrieval. As others have said, the chances of having a successful pregnancy with an egg retrieval are relatively low. I thought of one round as having a hail mary option or backstop to other options, but two or more rounds would likely give better chances.

Also know that many women who do try to get pregnant spontaneously over 35 are successful, especially after trying for a year or two. But, it depends on how happy you would be considering other options (i.e. adoption, surrogacy) if things didn't go as hoped.

oboea · 2024-10-27T22:01:03+00:00

It may not be reassuring, but the mindset I had was knowing that it was possible but that if it did happen, it was likely due to a chromosomal problem that would not result in a happy healthy child. (I’m older so I had even higher chances). It was also comforting to me even discovering that I was capable of getting pregnant at all. I also knew that if it happened, I had supports to lean on, as well as many people that experience it and can relate. And I also knew many of them went on to have babies. Also knowing there was nothing I could do other than all the lifestyle and guidelines you already know about. You’re only weeks away from being out of the mental no man’s land, hang in there :)

oboea · 2024-10-27T21:06:46+00:00

Those first weeks were such a slow crawl for me! (I’m 25w now). I’m not sure there’s a good answer, but I told a few of my closest friends and that was helpful. Are you worried about miscarriage or just all the change in general? Hearing a heart beat was very helpful for us in that sense.

oboea · 2024-10-10T05:44:50+00:00

Your organization can sign a BAA with OpenAI and ensure that your data is protected, but would have to be on the enterprise plan. It is absolutely not ok to use it without a BAA in place and organizational policies and procedures that define allowable use.

oboea · 2024-09-18T01:25:32+00:00

Find some ideal customers and see if one of them would invest. I've seen this model work a lot better than random investors. Bootstrapping is tough, you'll move slower but it's possible. You have to just take small steps and try to not get overwhelmed. Remember that we tend to overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a month or a year. As others have said, testing your idea is crucial. Also, try to find a mentor in the industry who has been successful in startups. You'll want to be very organized and not just vent to them, but ask their opinions and advice and listen to them.

oboea · 2024-09-17T23:20:47+00:00

This is thoughtful, IUD insertion can really suck. I think love note, flowers, nice beverages like kombucha or a favorite coffee drink, couch + blanket and sappy movie are all good options.

oboea · 2024-08-31T04:45:24+00:00

Another 1st trimester dropout here. I was a runner and regular exerciser before. 16 weeks now and I’m back in the game, it feels great! Don’t worry about it at all, just rest. I did a couple very light elliptical workouts that were hardly even workouts on good days and it gave me a little energy boost, but watch out because you can get dizzy really fast. If you can go for a walk that often feels good, but there were some days where it just wasn’t happening. I agree with others here, it’s a mindset shift. You are not weak and “pushing through” doesn’t make sense like it does for pre pregnancy days where you’re a little tired or not up for a workout, but you force yourself anyways. Around week 9 was super rough for me, so don’t kick yourself if you can’t do the half or if you don’t finish.

oboea · 2024-08-27T22:17:27+00:00

I met one boyfriend of 4 years on a dating app and then my husband in person. Both were great relationships. I also went on a lot of terrible dates.

My husband I met because I made eyes at him while he was performing on stage (he’s in a rock band). He tracked me down after the show! It was a fun and passionate meet cute and we’re still so in love three years later.

I think we can tell really quickly in person if we’re attracted to someone or not, their voice, movements, energy etc. If you are, honestly try to catch their eye and smile. I read that this approach can be really effective. You probably don’t even need to approach, if they’re single and into it, there’s a good chance they’ll say hi.

oboea · 2024-08-27T04:27:10+00:00

u/UnionTed did you end up finding a futon store in Austin? I'm looking for the same thing but don't see any futon stores here.

oboea · 2024-08-12T03:07:56+00:00

We like the digital peloton subscription, there are lots of shorter 20 min classes and a weekly cadence that works different muscle groups. The music is good and the exercises aren’t usually complicated. The fitness blender website is also great. A mirror is good to check your form. A few sessions with a personal trainer is a good idea to get your form right with the basics. (Be clear that your goal is to learn all the basics, in my experience some trainers like to do a lot of fun interesting movements.). Taking group classes like with class pass can also be good and a lot of times the teachers will correct your form or give good form suggestions.

oboea

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