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From left, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Bershire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett |
The announcement Monday means the three major American
companies admitted defeat in their attempt to address one of the most vexing
and longstanding problems for employers and employees alike in the world's
largest economy.
Haven said on its website that the venture would end in late
February, although the companies plan to "continue to collaborate
informally to design programmes tailored to address the specific needs of their
own employee populations."
The company did not elaborate on the decision and did not
respond to a request for comment, but JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the
venture produced some success.
"We're proud of the progress the Haven team made
exploring a wide range of healthcare solutions, including pilots at our company
to make primary care easier to access and insurance benefits simpler to
understand and easier to use," he said in a note to employees.
Jeff Bezos's Amazon, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway,
and financial giant JPMorgan Chase announced in January 2018 the plan to create
a nonprofit health care plan to "provide US employees and their families
with simplified, high-quality and transparent health care at a reasonable
cost."
The trio aimed to become a disruptor in the health care
industry just as Amazon has in retail, using their combined data, technology,
buying power, and customer contacts to improve delivery while cutting costs.
The companies did not specify how many people would benefit
under the new programme, but a source told AFP at the time domestic employees
of the companies and their dependents likely amount to at least a million
workers nationwide.
Political hot potato
The US is the only major world economy that does not provide
universal medical coverage to its citizens, and healthcare costs have spiraled
upwards for decades, accounting for 17.7 percent of GDP in 2019, according to
the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
About half of Americans get their insurance through their
employers, while the rest depend on government assistance or are uninsured,
according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Taming health care costs has been a priority for successive
presidents, and likely will be on the agenda of President-elect Joe Biden, who
takes office later this month.
His arrival in Washington will come after outgoing president
Donald Trump tried and failed to convince Congress to abolish Obamacare, the
system put in place by his predecessor that allowed individuals to access
private medical insurance and provided other protections while trying to limit
spiraling costs.
But he has managed to undermine it, reducing the timeframe
allowed to enroll, cutting the advertising budget, and eliminating in a 2017
tax reform package the requirement that every person have health insurance or
pay a fine.
In announcing Haven, Dimon said the new initiative would
benefit employees and "potentially, all Americans" and analysts
viewed it as a potentially promising expansion of Amazon's services.
The announcement at the time swamped health care stocks on
Wall Street, but on Monday share prices of major insurers and pharmacies showed
little reaction to the disbanding on a downbeat day for indices where the Dow
ended 1.3 percent lower.