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Comment by r0m4n0 | Hacker News Reader

In case anyone is wondering, Google uses Blueshield of CA to process their insurance claims but internally pay with their own funds. Google ultimately has the final say on how claims will be paid (although they rarely deviate from Blueshield's plan configurations). A rare hybrid approach...

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Using the coveredca/ACA terminology the Google's healthcare would be classified as "platinum" - covers 90%+ of the costs.

It's really great coverage, and good for people with, or planning on starting families. Despite what people rumor mill about, Google has plenty of non-23 employees and employees with children. Especially in farther-away offices like Seattle/Kirkland.

In fact, the Google healthplan is not fully competitive in Kirkland - the MSFT health plan has 0 monthly contributions and 0 co-pay. For those microsofters with children, copays add up really quick.

Also this article is spam bait of the worst kind.

Microsoft's health plan changed for the worse:

http://digitaljournal.com/blog/19881

Self-funded health insurance plans are very common with employers. Third-party administrators (TPAs) that provide the claim processing are big business.

> Third-party administrators (TPAs) that provide the claim processing are big business.

Big enough that a certain big data company might want to make a business out of it? I mean, if they're already using them and know how it operates...

SafeWayHealth is one of those. They sell the, cash, price of healthcare procedures to large employers that self insure. This DRASTICALLY reduces the cost of healthcare (e.g. a company pays $800 cash for a colonoscopy, vs. $7,000 via insurance). The problem is they only sell this info to companies with 10,000+ employees.

This service needs to exist for everybody.

http://safewayhealth.com/

Source: http://www.quora.com/Medicine-and-Healthcare/What-are-some-o...

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