Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase announced Tuesday (Jan. 30) they are teaming up to create an independent healthcare company that will aim to fix the nation’s healthcare system.
In a press release, the three said they are working on ways to address healthcare for their U.S. employees, focusing on reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction. To achieve that, the collaborative will create a constraint-free independent company that isn’t focused on profit-making incentives. Its initial focus, according to the press release, will be on using technology to provide U.S. employees and their families with easier, high-quality, transparent healthcare at a reasonable cost.
“The ballooning costs of healthcare act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy,” said Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO, Warren Buffett, in the press release. “Our group does not come to this problem with answers, but we also do not accept it as inevitable. Rather, we share the belief that putting our collective resources behind the country’s best talent can, in time, check the rise in health costs while concurrently enhancing patient satisfaction and outcomes.”
The companies see tackling the problems with healthcare as among the greatest issues facing society today. By bringing three of the world’s biggest companies together, Amazon, Berkshire and JPMorgan hope to take a new approach to what they view as a critical matter.
“The healthcare system is complex, and we enter into this challenge open-eyed about the degree of difficulty,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, in the same press release. “Hard as it might be, reducing healthcare’s burden on the economy while improving outcomes for employees and their families would be worth the effort. Success is going to require talented experts, a beginner’s mind and a long-term orientation.”
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon noted his staff wants transparency, knowledge and control when it comes to their healthcare. The effort is still in the early stages, but the long-term management of the initiative, as well as the headquarters, operation details and other information, will be communicated in “due course,” the companies said.
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