Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase to partner on US employee health care

[still_one]

Source: CNBC

Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase on Tuesday announced plans to partner on ways to cut health care costs and improve services for U.S. employees.

The companies will launch an independent company initially targeting technology solutions, with the intention to be an umbrella firm that would be "free from profit-making incentives.

"The ballooning costs of healthcare act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy," Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett said in a statement. "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 new company's goal at first will be to target technology solutions to simplify the health care system.

Three top executives, one from each company, will take the lead on the project: Investment officer Todd Combs at Berkshire, Marvelle Sullivan Berchtold at JPMorgan, and Beth Galetti, a senior vice president at Amazon."

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/30/amazon-berkshire-hathaway-and-jpmorgan-chase-to-partner-on-us-employee-health-care.html

[safeinOhio]

1. Those smart guys should know that a

"independent company initially targeting technology solutions, with the intention to be an umbrella firm that would be "free from profit-making incentives" is called "Single Payer".

[drray23]

2. they are smart and know that.

They also are smart enough to realize that if they call it single payer it will face headwinds. Many european countries (France, Germany for example) have universal healthcare that is a mix of public and private. So, give it a name sounding like corporate speech and go with it.
At this point, if they can improve upon what we have, i am all for it.

[PatSeg]

3. Yeah

"Single Payer" is a dirty word in our free market society! At least their are addressing the issue.

[still_one]

4. There are not enough specifics to know what they mean, but there is nothing in their endeavor to

suggest any government involvement, and it is not clear whether it would cover only these companies employees, or if it would be open to all Americans

One thing is evident thought, the health insurers are tumbling in pre-market trading, so that speaks volumes

[bronxiteforever]

5. K & R

[Vidal]

6. I've been waiting for years

I used to work in the field of healthcare financial consulting and I always wondered why big employers (who pay huge health insurance premiums) didn't do more to stop the increase in health insurance costs.

Now finally it looks like some of them are using their clout to reduce the waste and inefficiencies in our current system.

This is long overdue.

We should not have a for-profit healthcare system that puts profits before people.

[still_one]

7. and these three companies have the resources to pull it off

[WhiteTara]

8. Sounds like they should back Medicare for All and

pay their taxes.

[still_one]

11. That may be, but I suspect they do not believe that it will happen through Congress, which is why

they are setting it up as an independent company. That isn't an entirely unfounded assumption either, since the lobbyists and other conflicts of interests, infest our government.

It is unknown whether their endeavor will just cover their employees, or be open to all Americans.

This will put pressure not only on the health insurance companies, but it also may put pressure on Congress to finally do something, though I am very skeptical about the later in the near term

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Notice who is missing?

The largest private employer - Walmart.

[angrychair]

10. Sorry corporations are interested in one thing

PROFITS. This is nothing more than a way to “get in on the game” as it were. These three people are investment and profit driven, not medical professionals or even people that have ever worked in the healthcare industry. Fuck them!

You don’t fix healthcare with for-profit businesses, you cause more problems.

Ten years from now these three executives will be multimillionaires and these three companies will patent some new technologies that will makes that millions for people to use. We will still be screwed and poorer for it because the rich got to get richer.

[still_one]

12. First of all this will be setup as a non-profit company. The only thing known is that it will be

meant to cover all their employees. There is no indication that it would be open to all Americans.

While no doubt a major part of their motivation is to cut the costs they currently pay for healthcare for their employees, that is not an unreasonable goal, because that also cuts the cost of insurance to their employees. Their goal is also to provide better healthcare for their employees, which is also part of their proposal.

If I was a betting person I would think they have a better chance of succeeding in the next 10 years, then the government has in passing a single payer healthcare plan.

[angrychair]

15. With all due respect

These three corporations collectively have billions in cash reserves and could reduce the cost to their employees health insurance anytime they wanted by absorbing more of the expense.
Another way is to create the non-profit and then collectively bargain a insurance provider and use those numbers and influence to lower cost.

The best solution? Our government is already doing healthcare with lower costs than private insurance, it’s called Medicare.
The simplest answer is to endorse and support Medicare for all. These three corporations have massive influence in their respective industries. Lead by example and instead of paying lobbyists and members of Congress hundreds of millions of dollars a year to avoid taxes and regulations, why not use that massive influence machine to get Medicare for all? It’s a lot easier, cheaper and faster. Corporations using millions of dollars and lobbyists to actually help people. Maintain it by charging corporations a tax per employee that could even be shared between the employee and employer.
It’s not that hard to come up with solutions if your intent is really to actually solve the problem.

[still_one]

19. Companies would love Medicare for all, because it would take the healthcare costs away from

them, and move it to the individual taxpayer.

The reality is that in this environment that is not going to happen anytime soon. The results of 2016 pretty much insured that.

Because 3 private companies have decided to join forces to setup an independent, non-profit company, to provide their employees with health insurance, instead of going through the current health insurers providers will not only save them money, but also will be advantageous to their employees.

This is the decision of these three companies. They aren't elected representatives.

However, looking at the reaction of the health insurance stocks to this announcement, sure indicates they aren't very happy about it

[hatrack]

14. It's the Tax Cut "Bonus", Digital Medical Records Blahblahblah Version

See, peasants - we're working hard for you!

[DeminPennswoods]

13. Two word: Kaiser Permanente

IIRC, this was started by Kaiser during WWII to provide services and healthcare for its largely female workforce.

[SoCalNative]

26. Kaiser is a lame excuse for healthcare

I don't want to be forced to go to only thier clinics and hospitals to receive care. So any plan that mimiced that would not be one that I would ever sign up for.

[harun]

16. The Oligarchs pick what the Legislation is anyway, might as well make them at least publicly

accountable, although none of them were elected.

Not how our country should operate but it may save lives in the interim.

[Cold War Spook]

17. We are on single payer,

VA healthcare=government and my wife is on Medicare=government and CHAMPVA=government. Over 30% of Americans are on some type of government=single payer heath plan. Just call it corporate tax relief or 1%ers' tax relief and it would pass in less than a week.

[Nitram]

18. The Republic Party will pass a law to make the concept illegal.

[still_one]

20. I sure wouldn't put it past them

[Yavin4]

21. The arrogance of our corporate eltists knows no bounds

Healthcare is not that difficult to understand. Everyone needs healthcare. A certain percentage of the population will have higher needs than most. In order lower prices for everyone, everyone needs to pay into the same system and everyone needs to be covered. Finally, that system needs the ability to negotiate prices with drug companies and health care providers.

[ucrdem]

22. They probably want in on the opioid bonanza

Chase will provide plastic Rx cards, Berkshire will run the Shanghai knock-off factories. and Amazon will deliver the pills.

Okay I'm cynical.

[question everything]

23. And some speculate that this is one reason for the drop in the market

that it will hurt the insurance company. That it will lead to - please, please - a single payer system.

[still_one]

24. The stocks affected by that are mostly the health insurance companies. There is also concern that

sales for the Apples IPhone X are much less than forecast, and the market is way over due for a correction.

Other than health insurers and certain related businesses, companies in general would save a lot of expenses if there was a national single payer insurance, because healthcare insurance would be shifted away from them to the individual taxpayer.

As for the announcement in the OP, the only thing known is it is only meant for the employees working for those companies. What concerns the health insurers about this is that it might spread to other companies joining forces to provide affordable health insurance to their employees.

Amazon, JPM, and Berkshire employ a lot of people, and employee healthcare costs are a big part of their expenses. While the motivation for this is no doubt their bottom line, it is also that they have no faith the government would be able to create a national health insurance system in the current environment

[gyroscope]

25. Key phrase

The companies will launch an independent company initially targeting technology solutions, with the intention to be an umbrella firm that would be "free from profit-making incentives."

Wow sounds like a hint at single-payer. How ironic if the beginnings of a SP system was initiated by corporate America. It's finally starting to sink in through their thick skulls that it would drastically reduce costs and be great for their bottom line. I guess that old socialist fart was right after all.

[saidsimplesimon]

27. "Irrational exuberance" Greenspan

If it sounds to good to be true...fool me once...nothing in life is free...etc.

What's down with the Nasdaq today? Are they selling to take advantage of the new tax code? Is it what is called a "normal" market correction in the world of "smoke and mirrors"?

[still_one]

28. The insurance and some healthcarre stocks are down because of this no doubt. The technology stocks

I suspect are down because the Apple IPhone X sales are lower than estimated, and the market essentially going up without a breather is probably contributing to it also.

However, what I suspect may also be concerning some in the market is that if the unemployment rate comes in with a good number, it is almost a certainty that the Feds will be increasing interest rates several times this year