Hacker News Reader

Under the ACA, when the insurance company pays a hospital (or any other medical provider) $200, it is allowed to spend $50 (less for larger programs) on salaries and profits and other expenses.

If it gets $300 of premiums and only spends $200 on medical care, it has to send the extra $50 back to the customers (larger programs have to send back $65).

More here:

http://kff.org/health-reform/perspective/beyond-rebates-how-...

View on HN

Clearly they have found ways around the rules or it's still way too much money.

The fact health insurance companies invest in ski hills is very telling about lack of focus on their real business.

Either their real biz makes so much money that they can spend it like drunken sailors or they don;t care about the primary mission of the company and are just buying perks they can use themselves.

Either way you split it, it's still a total mess and not what shareholders or customers (patients) are expecting in an healthcare insurance company.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com