[Sirius Lee]

Instead of paying the insurance companies off for their losses with taxpayer money, wouldn't it have been cheaper to cut out the middleman and subsidize the hospitals for their losses? Not that the federal government has any business doing either.

Insurance is not healthcare.

[buckalfa]

"Instead of paying the insurance companies off for their losses with taxpayer money, wouldn't it have been cheaper to cut out the middleman and subsidize the hospitals for their losses? Not that the federal government has any business doing either."

Little known fact is that Federal and state governments have been doing this for years under Medicare and Medicaid. Since the government requires hospitals to care for emergent patients without regard to ability to pay, there are provisions in the laws that pays hospitals who have a disportionate share of self pay patients. Known as DISH. It does not cover all losses but it helps many smaller hospitals stay afloat. DISH is to be gradually phased out under the ACA as the uninsured is supposed to decline, creating fewer losses for hospitals.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

“Instead of paying the insurance companies off for their losses with taxpayer money, wouldn’t it have been cheaper.....”

Yeah, most likely. But the government has not the slightest interest in what might be “cheaper”. It’s actually exactly contrary to what they want. The more expensive government programs are, the more control over the private economy they obtain.