Self-Funded Universities Failed HR. Kyle Minick Is Fixing It
Jan 13, 2026
Kyle Minick, Vice President of Employee Benefits at Summit Financial Group, tackles the alarming gap in benefits education for HR professionals. He discusses universities' minimal focus on healthcare strategy and the creation of a six-week accredited course to address this failure. Kyle highlights the struggles of reference-based pricing in Texas and the misaligned incentives of using Medicare rates as a benchmark. He aims to equip students with the skills to audit vendors and demand better health plan management, significantly changing the HR landscape.
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Medicare Isn't A Universal Price Anchor
- Reference-based pricing and Medicare-based benchmarks often fail because they don't reflect local market dynamics and hospital financial realities.
- Kyle Minick argues Medicare is a flawed gold standard that can unintentionally subsidize hospital shortfalls and distort pricing.
Why Hospitals Inflate Prices
- Hospital revenue mixes (uninsured, short payments, cash timing) drive aggressive billing and balanced billing pressures.
- Kyle frames hospitals as effectively subsidizing care and chasing patient balances, which inflates market prices.
Process Transparency Matters As Much As Price
- Price transparency alone isn't enough; process and fiduciary transparency are also required to trust payers and PBMs.
- Kyle calls for insurers and vendors to have fiduciary duties and to share claims/process data with plan sponsors.