Amazon gets into healthcare with Warren Buffet and JPMorgan


Amazon has just took a surprising turn into the healthcare industry, teaming up with investing hero Warren Buffet and New York-based bank JPMorgan Chase, the Washington Post reports. The project is still in the planning stages, so there isn't yet a lot of info on what form it will take. The idea, however, is to reduce costs while improving patient care with the aid of technology. "The ballooning costs of (health care) act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy," Berkshire Hathaway founder Warren Buffet said in a statement.

The new health company will be independent of its founding firms and "free from profit-making incentives and constraints," it said. It will be led by executives from all three firms, with much of its focus on employer-granted health benefits, it seems. "Our goal is to create solutions that benefit our U.S. employees, their families and, potentially, all Americans," said JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

Despite not having a single-payer system, US healthcare costs are among the highest in the world, making it prohibitively expensive for more and more American companies. As the Post notes, only 50 percent of US firms with up to 49 employees offer coverage, down 66 percent from a decade to go. The Affordable Care Act requires all companies larger than that to offer it.

The news is certainly an eye-opener, and many investors, insurance companies, politicians and others will no doubt be curious as to how the new company takes shape. Jeff Bezos, for his part, seems to be taking a realistic view of what it can accomplish, however.

"The healthcare system is complex, and we enter into this challenge open-eyed about the degree of difficulty," he said in a statement. "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."

Source: Washington Post

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