INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A healthcare company founded by Amazon AMZN,
Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B,
BRK.A,
and JPMorgan Chase JPM,
to attack rising costs is resolving.
Haven, which was founded in 2018 by the three U.S. giants, will strike by the end of February, a spokesman said Monday. She gave no reason for the dissolution of the business.
The independent company was established to focus on improving the care provided to employees of those businesses while spending better. However, Benefits experts expected that all plans developed by Haven would be widely accepted by other companies if it proved to be effective in controlling costs.
The news of the establishment of the business almost three years ago sent a brief shudder through the stock of health insurers guaranteeing the coverage by employers.
But the Boson-based company has been largely silent since appointing a senior executive, Harvard professor, author and surgeon, Dr. Atul Gawande, nominated and when his name was announced in 2019.
Gawande left last May.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, insurance by employers covers about 157 million people. That’s nearly half of the total U.S. population and the bulk of the country’s health insurance market in the country.
Healthcare costs have been growing faster than wages and inflation for years, stressing families and employers. Haven’s founders warned from the outset that the company had a difficult task and that they did not expect quick fixes.
They had several priorities for the company. They wanted it to look for ways to help employees make better choices for their care and give them the best options available.
They also wanted Haven to develop better programs to improve health and especially deal with obesity and smoking, which are responsible for chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and depression.
A Haven spokesman said the company had made progress in a number of areas. It started with new designs for healthcare benefits that eliminated patient payouts such as deductions and currency insurance and encouraged access to primary care.
She said Haven also identified areas for reducing the cost of prescription drugs and “tackling issues of fraud, waste and abuse.”
Amazon, JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway have said they plan to continue working informally.