He’s worked in defense, fin tech, and media before finding his way to healthcare. At Oscar, he leads a team of engineers focused on growth and the online member experience. Meet John Ong, Technical Lead Manager at Oscar.
How did you first connect with Oscar?
I’m pretty sure it was the subway ads that first piqued my interest. I really wanted to find a young company trying to tackle a big problem. Healthcare is something I’ve been passionate about for a long time, and I liked that Oscar was taking on an industry that had been functioning for decades without a good product. Additionally, the fact that Oscar is committed to building something not just good, but incredible is really exciting.
What were some of your early projects like?
I joined in the summer of 2014, and a lot of my initial projects involved working closely with design and product trying to build simple versions of things that were historically complicated. A big example of this was allowing people to become Oscar members through the website. One part of this was a rebuild of our Quote Mad Lib, where users can quickly get their insurance quote by adding their relevant personal details to a fill-in-the-blank story. We were able to create something that was both more comprehensive, but was faster to complete and more intuitive.
And what about more recently?
A major project we just finished involved rebuilding our Care Router, a search where users can type in some information about how they’re feeling and then we route them to appropriate care options. In this updated iteration, we give people the opportunity to slice and dice the data in new ways that can help to match them to what they’re looking for, in addition to incorporating more contextual information about the user. The project was not only interesting from an engineering perspective, but it was also rewarding to be able to revamp a core part of the product in a way that made it easy to keep building onto.
How would you describe your colleagues?
It’s great to work with people who are ambitious and motivated. Everyone is excited to be here, excited to build stuff, and not afraid to do something if it’s hard. Also, there’s an interest in both tech and product together that you don’t always see. You can sense the bigger long-term vision every day, and how it’s supported by this commitment to doing good work.
And life at the company, overall?
The problem we’re solving is a meaningful one, and as a result, there’s a focus everywhere on building the best product. People here are smart and motivated and not so worried about sticking exclusively to what’s in a job description. This enables all of us to really come together, see what we need to do to solve a problem, and then go right ahead and build it.
The Keep A Breast Foundation was established in response to the growing need for breast cancer awareness programs that focus on educating young people. Fifteen years ago, I had friends being diagnosed in their 20s; none of us had prior comprehension of how early in life breast cancer could strike. That flipped a switch in my brain, and I realized that we needed to start the breast cancer prevention conversation sooner, with a focus on prevention. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a big opportunity to raise awareness. Organizations like us work on the issue all year, but this gives us a huge platform to encourage new people to become a part of the conversation. To get things started, here are a few ways that you can help lower your risk of breast cancer now.
Check Yourself!
In order to know when something is wrong, you have to know how your body feels when it’s right (“your normal” as we like to call it). We encourage everyone to ‘check your boobies’ monthly (guys too!) to know your normal. Young people can and do get breast cancer, so we encourage starting monthly self-checks as early as possible. No scary medical procedures, just getting to know your breasts and starting that positive relationship with them. Research shows that 40 percent of diagnosed breast cancers are detected by women who discover their own lump. (Download our app to walk you through the steps and to set yourself a monthly reminder.)
Eat Your Medicine
Food is fuel, and nutrient-rich food is medicine for your body. By consuming produce like turmeric, cruciferous vegetables, garlic, and berries, you can reduce your risk of cancer, while enjoying other benefits like maintaining a healthy weight, reducing your risk of heart disease, and increased levels of energy. Another tip: Women who eat a fiber rich diet are 54 percent less likely to get breast cancer.
Move Your Body
Some studies have shown that just 30 minutes of exercise 3-5 times a week can lower your risk of breast cancer by 30-50 percent. Exercise also boosts your T-cells, which strengthen your immune system and help you fight cancer cells. Hiking and other exercise releases adrenaline and endorphins, which can decrease tension, anxiety, and blood pressure levels. This can reduce risk of depression and will leave you feeling better physically and mentally, which will encourage you to continue your new healthy habits.
Detox Your Life
Environmental factors contribute to breast cancer diagnoses. That includes the products we use in our home and on our bodies. The cosmetics industry is very loosely regulated, and while one product may contain a “safe level” of harmful chemicals, the reality is that women use around 12 products daily, which equals an average of 168 chemicals that are exposed to our bodies. Men use less, but still expose their skin to around 85 chemicals everyday. When we use that many products that contain potential carcinogens, the levels of those chemicals pass the safety mark. Luckily, there are many great companies that produce non toxic cosmetics, personal care and cleaning products to keep our bodies free of as many toxins as we can control. Download Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep App to scan products in store so you can shop smart and non toxic!
De-stress
If you find yourself living a super fast-paced daily life, remember to slow down for yourself and decompress for your health. Long-term stress can open the door for breast cancer by increasing blood flow to tumors, feeding hormones that encourage tumor growth, and keeping your body in a constant state of inflammation. A few great ways to de-stress are to make sure you get enough sleep, listen to your favorite music when you feel stress coming on, practice digital detoxes daily, visualize a less stressful situation to trigger relaxation, and hang with your friends.
Guest author Shaney Jo Darden is founder and Chief Creative Officer of The Keep a Breast Foundation, a global non-profit organization dedicated to raising breast cancer awareness among younger demographics. Download their app (complete with monthly self-check reminders) here. Keep A Breast is celebrating its 15th birthday this year.
At Oscar, we understand that breast cancer can strike at any age. That’s why we don’t just cover annual in-network screening mammograms for women over 40. We also cover annual screenings for women below the age of 40 if they are at an increased risk of breast cancer as determined by their providers. Our Care Router can help you connect with a provider or screening facility, or just give us a call at 855-OSCAR-55 or email help@hioscar.com and we’ll be happy to help with that, as well as answer any questions about coverage and more.
Here at Oscar, we are, by and large, a Python shop with MySQL as our primary database. Python has given us a robust set of tools and sharable code to use across our web applications, batch jobs, and services. About a year and a half ago, once Python had become ingrained at Oscar, we made three big architectural decisions to improve our ability to implement and deploy Python projects across our teams: We consolidated to a monolithic git repo, adopted Pants as our build tool, and began moving to Apache Aurora and Apache Mesos for job running.
Join the Oscar Member Services Team for a weekend recruiting event at the historic Puck Building!
We are holding interviews for full-time Member Service Representative positions this Saturday, October 24th and Sunday, October 25th from 10 am - 6 pm. Interviews will be held in our offices at 295 Lafayette St, 6th floor. Same day offers are possible!
Please apply here no later than noon on Friday, October 23rd. Make sure to bring your resume and two forms of identification with you. We are a start-up, so feel free to wear jeans and a nice sweater. We look forward to meeting you!
NYC-based Oscar Health is trying to disrupt the health insurance space with its user-friendly app, free 24/7 telemedicine and jargon-free bills. And now it’s expanding its reach to California and Texas starting November 1. Can the startup live up to its hype?
In this week’s Effie Winner Spotlight, learn how Oscar Insurance’s “Bringing Humanity to Health Insurance” campaign helped the healthcare startup break through to disenfranchised consumers.
Keen Strategy’s Alan Hart sat down with with Veronica Parker-Hahn, VP, Marketing at Oscar Insurance, to discuss how her team, with agency partner, UNTITLED WORLDWIDE, built a campaign that intended to change the way consumers viewed health insurance.
Oscar launched as a brand on October 1st, 2013, when New York State officially introduced a public exchange marketplace for health insurance. Many health insurance providers are business-to-business operations; since Oscar offers insurance to individual consumers and their families, they had a unique marketing challenge - and opportunity.
Oscar sought to offer its customers simplicity, transparency, and humanity - and wanted their marketing to match the user experience. Humorous, straightforward ads went up in in New York’s subway system, bus shelters, and across digital platforms that their target audience frequented. The campaign delivered on Oscar’s KPIs of increased awareness and member enrollment - the company reached 45% awareness among its core audience and 5% total market share at the end of their enrollment period that year.
“Bringing Humanity To Health Insurance,” by Oscar Insurance and UNTITLED WORLDWIDE, took home Effies in the David vs. Goliath and Insurance categories at the 2015 North American Effie Awards.
For more information about the North American Effie Awards and latest updates on the 2016 competition (entry deadlines Oct. 8-29, 2015), visit Effie.org.
To subscribe to the Effie Case Database, click here.
Halloween’s creeping up, and with it, some spooky health stats, like the fact that Americans consume 90 billion pounds of chocolate and counting during that week alone. To help you weather the mayhem, we asked four members of Oscar’s Medical Management team for their best health tips.
“Make sure you eat a healthy meal at the start of the night,” says Tina Lesevic, RN. “Ideally, go for something high in protein and fiber. Both will help you feel full for longer.” Also, be realistic about snacking. If you’ve been out a long time, you’ll probably want to eat something at the end of the night, so have some healthy foods you like on hand. Lastly, for any candy you acquire, put it in the freezer. Having to thaw the individual pieces out is a great way to prevent impulse bingeing and mindless snacking in the days to come.
“Turn your fitness tracker on and bring it with you,” say Mary Ellen Connington, RN. “Seeing a record of something good you’re doing for your health can be an incredible motivator to stay on that wagon.” (If you’re an Oscar member, you can even earn cash as you trick-or-treat with your Misfit Flash.)
“Have a strategy before you go out,” says MaryAnn Jonaitis, CDN. “On a night like that, it’s unrealistic to avoid candy altogether, but plan to stick to one or two of the bite-sized pieces. If you’re still hungry, opt for nuts or popcorn. They contain healthy fats and fiber to promote satiety.” If you’re at a party where food is served, choose a small plate and stack it with fruits and vegetables before going for other options. And when you’re out and about, it can help to carry a bottle of water or seltzer. Not only will it help you stay hydrated (studies show it’s easy to confuse hunger and thirst), but if copious cocktails are part of your night, you can use this to water them down.
“If you or your kids are due for a dental cleaning, schedule it soon after Halloween night,” says Audrey Pellicano, RN. “Toothbrushes are no match for candy corn.” Also, late night carousing, cold weather, and more can wear you down and make you more vulnerable to getting sick. If you wake up feeling iffy and that feeling persists through the day, you can speak to a board-certified doctor any time through our Doctor on Call service. He or she can help evaluate your symptoms and walk you through any next steps (including prescriptions, if you’re really sick).
Open Enrollment for 2016 has begun! And this year, we’re not just available in New York and New Jersey. We’ve expanded our reach to include parts of California and Texas, too! So we thought we’d take a minute to share a little about who we are, and what we’re about.
At Oscar, we think healthcare should be simple, human, and smart. To make this happen, we use technology and design to guide you to better care and help you keep track of your health. We’re the kind of healthcare we want for our families and ourselves.
For example, you can use our Care Router on your computer or smartphone to type in your symptoms and get suggestions for what to do next, as well as find a doctor to visit using filters like location, gender, and languages spoken. All our plans connect you to our high-quality network of physicians, hospitals, and other providers, and we’ve arranged lower prices with many of them to save you money. (As an added bonus, you won’t need a referral to see any of them.)
Have a health question? You can just click on a button to talk or email with a physician right away, always free of charge. Because our goal is to be your partner in wellness, like a doctor in the family, we’re staffed with a trusted team of nurses and healthcare experts who work hard to answer your questions about symptoms or general wellness, 24/7. They’ll help you get better when you’re sick (including, in some cases, writing out simple prescriptions or refills), and develop plans and strategies to stay healthy in the long run.
Prevention is a big keystone for us. We believe that one of the best things we can do is help keep you from getting sick in the first place. Our plans offer free preventive care (including flu shots, certain vaccines, and contraceptives), a free annual wellness visit with your PCP, and generic drug coverage. We also pay you to stay healthy. We offer wellness rewards, such as a free fitness tracker that syncs with the Oscar app and lets members earn rewards just for being active.
All the while, we keep track of your health history, so you don’t have to. Every time you see a provider, fill a prescription, or get some lab work, we’ll log that information into a private timeline you can access right from your device, so you remember what you’ve done and can see where you stand.
This year, Open Enrollment runs from November 1, 2015 to January 31, 2016. To learn more about us, visit HiOscar.com, call Oscar at 1-844-OSCAR-66, or talk to your local broker. We’d love to meet you!
Have you ever wanted to be immortalized as a cartoon? Well, here’s your chance! Snap a photo, tag it with @OscarHealth, include #HiOscar and you could join our cast of characters!
Love your welcome kit? Take a pic!
Having an especially good hair day today? Snap a selfie!
Spotted an Oscar ad during your morning commute? Share it!
Each month during Open Enrollment, we’ll pick our favorites & turn them into characters to be used in future ads! Details here.
Health Insurance Marketplace plans for 2016 officially went on sale November 1, 2015. If you want to switch plans or buy one for the first time, here are the dates you need to know:
November 1, 2015: Open Enrollment begins. This is the first day you can enroll in plans for the 2016 year.
December 15, 2015: This is the last day you can enroll in plans if you want your new coverage to start on January 1.
January 1, 2016: If you enrolled in a plan by December 15, your new coverage begins today.
January 15, 2016: This is the last day you can enroll plans if you want your new coverage to start on February 1.
January 31, 2016: Open Enrollment ends. If you enrolled in a plan between January 16 and January 31, your new coverage begins on March 1. If you don’t already have coverage and haven’t bought a plan by this date, you may have to pay a fee unless you qualify for an exemption or can prove you can’t afford coverage. Read more about that here.
February 1, 2016: If you enrolled in a plan by January 15, your new coverage begins today.
This year, Oscar is available in New York, New Jersey, and (for the first time) parts of Texas and California. We’re excited to talk with you, and happy to answer your questions. Call 844-OSCAR-66 to connect with one of our healthcare guides.
The doctor will see you now.
All Oscar plans include unlimited #telemedicine, available 24/7. For free.
#DoctorOnCall #HiOscar #photocred @biggsjason #nbd
He’s a Harvard grad and Goldman Sachs alum who has channeled his passion for healthcare, technology, and policy into helping Oscar expand its reach. Now, he’s leading the way as Oscar expands to the Lone Star State. Meet Vijay, Oscar’s General Manager of Texas.
You were building an impressive career on Wall Street. What got you to jump to Oscar?
I come from a family of doctors and had considered a career in medicine for a long time. But I initially chose a different route, investing in healthcare and technology businesses. Around the time Obamacare was passed, I began to dive into the legislation and understood the potential for enormous disruption and innovation in the healthcare industry. Following some family health issues, I was drawn in to be a part of the change and to help build something that could have an impact on the many flaws in the system. As soon as I learned about Oscar I was sold. I loved that it was a big idea that had the potential to change the way that people engaged with healthcare.
What was your role there, initially?
My first role at Oscar was in finance and strategy. On the finance side, I was building internal analyses on how we could achieve scale and working with investors to raise capital and find new ways to finance the business. On the strategy side, my focus was expansion into new geographies and business lines. Earlier in the summer, I was offered the opportunity to build and lead our business in Texas, so I picked up and moved to Dallas.
Texas was one of just two states Oscar decided to expand to this Open Enrollment. What went into that choice?
It boiled down to three reasons. The first was the market opportunity. Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the country, with one in five Texans living without health insurance – almost twice the national average. It’s a sizable market to address and an area where we felt we could make an impact. The second was the competitive landscape. Insurance here has historically been driven by a few large players, and from what we had learned on the ground, there was nothing available that looked like us. So we had an opportunity to bring a differentiated alternative to those in the state. The third was our health system partnerships. One of our biggest strategic goals at Oscar has been to integrate more closely with health systems to leverage our technology and their medical expertise to deliver better care at lower costs. In Texas, we developed relationships with nation-leading systems, Baylor Scott & White Health and Tenet Healthcare, that are interested in innovating together to create integrated care models that deliver high-quality care.
How has the experience been so far?
It has been fantastic so far and we’ve been warmly received here in Texas. As a new entrant in the market, we are focused on building awareness and partnerships with hospitals and physician groups, policy makers, community organizations, brokers, and consumers. One day we’ll be presenting to the CEOs of some of the state’s largest hospitals. The next, working with cultural organizations to engage local communities about healthcare. We’re deeply focused on talking with and listening to potential members in our markets of Dallas Ft. Worth and San Antonio so they can make informed decisions about their health insurance this open enrollment period. We’ve made great strides in building our local operations and have established a network of high-quality providers that we’re excited to offer to our members this year. Above all, we’ve been fortunate to bring on to our Texas team some amazing people who are passionate about healthcare and building something significant.
Let’s end with one key thing you’d like Texans to know about what makes Oscar different.
One of the biggest differentiators of Oscar is our technology. We’re trying to leverage it wherever possible to make healthcare simpler and more efficient. We’ve built consumer engagement tools to help educate and empower members about their health, find great doctors, and manage their healthcare costs. Tools to help physicians collaborate and provide a higher standard of care to patients, and real-time analytics to help us better serve our members. By using technology to align the key stakeholders in healthcare – the patient, the physician and the insurer – we have a meaningful opportunity to improve care and lower costs for all parties. And that’s what we’re striving to achieve for our members here in Texas.
When Oscar first launched, everyone at the company focused on what we considered our core area of expertise – the web and mobile experience for our members. As a result, we outsourced some of our operational, “commoditized” functions, such as keeping track of enrollment information for our members. However, we very quickly realized that were we to achieve our goal of making health insurance simpler and easier to navigate, we needed to control the full stack of delivering the best healthcare experience. So our internal Operations team began to rethink key operational process flows.
We’ve decoded eight common terms that usually trip people up. Knowing what these are, and what they look like in a coverage plan, can take a lot of the mystery out of insurance, leaving you more time to focus on what matters most–your good health.
Insurance premiums: The dollar amounts that coverage will cost you each month. Premiums stay the same for the duration of a coverage year, so you can easily factor them into your household budget. They are defined by each insurer’s “metal levels” (bronze, silver, gold, platinum, or catastrophic).
Cost-sharing features: Additional out-of-pocket costs that come in three forms: deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance. Typically, the more you pay in monthly premiums, the less you will need to pay in cost-sharing.
Deductibles: The dollar amount you must pay before insurance kicks in and pays for things. Deductibles can vary by thousands of dollars, so keep them in mind before selecting a plan.
Copayments: Relatively small, fixed amounts you must pay for each visit or prescription after you hit your deductible.
Coinsurance: A fixed percentage of a service that you must pay for after you hit your deductible (e.g., 20% of the cost of specialized medication or certain medical equipment).
Certificate of coverage: A document explaining the health benefits, and what will and will not be covered, in your plan.
Covered services: Services that are in-network and part of your plan. Covered services count toward your deductible.
Uncovered services: Services outside of your plan’s benefit package (e.g., cosmetic surgery or herbal therapy). You’ll have to pay for these services in full, whether or not you’ve met your deductible.
With Open Enrollment for 2016 underway, now’s the time to get covered! You can sign up for coverage beginning January 1st (and in some cases, as early as December 1st). Because one of the big reasons we launched Oscar was to help make insurance simpler and more accessible, we encourage questions of all sizes and kinds (we really do!). Call us anytime at 1-844-OSCAR-66, and we’ll be happy to walk you through your options and considerations. You can also get a quote easily right here.
