AbstractDuring the past year, I have worked with colleagues in the United States and France to compare the countries’ rates of hospital readmission for patients sixty‐five years of age and older. The comparison with France can help shed light on a debate about one feature of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Our study highlights the complexity of hospital readmissions and raises the concern that we may be creating a significant problem if we pressure hospitals financially to discharge patients as quickly as possible and penalize them again for the foreseeable consequence of this action.