Haven – the joint venture of Amazon, Berkshire and JPMorgan – is closing

“Haven will close in late February,” Haven spokeswoman Brooke Thurston said in an email to CNN Business. The news was first reported by CNBC.

The project was created in 2018 in order to provide better health insurance and insurance services at a lower cost for workers and families in these three leading American companies – and potentially for other American companies as well.

But Haven has struggled to make inroads beyond the three partners in its infancy. Haven CEO Atul Gawande resigned in May last year, and chief operating officer Jack Stoddard left the company in 2019 after only a few months in office.
Spokesmen for JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Amazon (AMZN) also confirmed to CNN Business that Haven is closing. Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) was not immediately available for comment.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon wrote in an email to employees that was distributed to CNN Business: “Haven worked best as an incubator of ideas, a place to pilot, test and learn – and a way to share best practices between our companies. they were invaluable. “

Thurston told CNN Business that “before, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co. they will continue to collaborate informally to design tailored programs to meet the specific needs of the population and the individual locations of our employees ”.

She added that “the Haven team has made good progress in exploring a wide range of healthcare solutions, as well as piloting new ways to facilitate access to primary care, the benefits of easier-to-understand and easier-to-use insurance and medicines released on more affordable recipe base ”

Amazon is now a drug store.  It will send the prescriptions of the Prime members

In the future, the three companies are expected to continue to focus on increasing their employees’ health care offerings, especially as the Covid-19 vaccine becomes available to a wider group of Americans.

In an e-mail to employees, Dimon said, “We will take the knowledge we have gained through our joint venture and build on it.” He added that there will be no changes to benefit programs for bank employees and that Haven will work with Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway to find new jobs for Haven employees.

Meanwhile, Amazon is stepping up its own healthcare efforts. The company already owns the online pharmacy PillPack and has recently launched plans to ship prescriptions to Prime members.
Berkshire Hathaway, of Warren Buffett, makes big bets on drug stocks

Berkshire Hathaway, led by billionaire Warren Buffett, recently looked for bargains in the health sector.

Berkshire revealed in November that it had bought shares in vaccine developer Covid-19 and leader Big Pharma Pfizer (FE) in the third trimester. Buffett ‘s company also invested in Abbvie (Abbvie), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) and Merck (MRK).

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