Managing Healthcare Benefits For 215,000 People, What The Job Actually Looks Like | Laura Tauber

About this episode

Laura Tauber discusses her unconventional career path leading to her role in managing healthcare benefits for a large workforce at the University of California.

What happens when a Wall Street bond analyst, urban planner, freelance filmmaker, and investment banker all become the same person, and that person ends up running healthcare benefits for 215,000 people at the University of California? Laura Tauber didn't follow the rulebook. She followed curiosity. Laura Tauber is the Executive Director of Self-Funded Health Plans at the University of California, Office of the President. She oversees PPO plans, HMO plans, and benefit partnerships with Anthem and Blue Shield for a workforce that spans everything from Nobel laureates to gardeners — active employees, early retirees, and families spread across California and beyond. 60% of that workforce is unionized. 5 of her campuses have no medical center. And 50-60% of total plan spend runs through UC's own health system, meaning she's constantly negotiating with the very hospitals she depends on. It started not in healthcare — but in natural resources. Laura studied environmental policy, nearly became a forester, spent a summer in rural Montana, and realized that wasn't the life for her. She pivoted to urban planning, moved to San Francisco in 1982 in the middle of a recession, couldn't find…

People in this episode

Host: Laurie McGraw

Guest: Laura Tauber

Topics covered

• healthcare benefits
• career journey
• financial analysis
• urban planning
• negotiation
• healthcare management

Keywords

• healthcare
• benefits management
• financial analysis
• urban planning
• negotiation
• University of California
• career transition

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of California, Anthem, Blue Shield

Places: California, Montana, San Francisco

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