Healthcare stocks plummeted by $69 billion after three major corporations announced that they teamed up to enter the industry as service providers.
Amazon, JPMorgan and Berkshire Hathaway said that they are working towards building their own healthcare company to curb employee healthcare costs and overall, promote the well-being of employee’s and their families.
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet said that “the ballooning costs of healthcare act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy.”
Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO added, “The healthcare system is complex, and we enter into this challenge open-eyed about the degree of difficulty. 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.”
In a press release, the initial plans for the start up are to focus on “… technology solutions that will provide U.S. employees and their families with simplified, high-quality and transparent healthcare at a reasonable cost. ”
Monopolizing Healthcare
The announcement comes on heels of 450 hospitals saying that they created a nonprofit generic drug company to make cheaper medications to supply the growing needs in health care.
A noted switch in the healthcare system marks a turn in healthcare providers. Some express concern that the rising trend of corporations taking over the industry will make healthcare more like a fast-food market and less about human lives.
