INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A medical company designed by Amazon AMZN,
Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B,
BRK.A,
and JPMorgan Chase JPM,
to attack rising costs dissolves.
Haven, which was formed in 2018 by the three US corporate giants, will cease operations by the end of February, a spokeswoman said on Monday. She gave no reason to dissolve the project.
The independent company was created to focus on improving the care provided to employees of those businesses, while at the same time doing a better job of managing expenses. But the benefit experts expected any plans developed by Haven to be widely adopted by other companies if they proved cost-effective.
News of the start-up of the company almost three years ago sent a short shiver through the stocks of health insurers who manage employer-sponsored coverage.
But the Boson-based company has been largely silent since it appointed a CEO – professor, author and surgeon Dr. Harvard Atul Gawande – and then announced its name in 2019.
Gawande left in May last year.
Employer-sponsored insurance covers about 157 million people, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. It represents almost half of the total US population and the largest share of the health insurance market in patches in the country.
Healthcare costs have risen faster than wages and inflation for years, stressing families and employers. The founders of Haven warned from the beginning that the company had a difficult task and did not expect quick solutions.
They had more priorities for the company. They wanted 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 treat obesity and smoking, which are responsible for chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and depression.
A Haven spokeswoman said the company has made progress in several areas. New models of health care benefits have begun that have eliminated patients’ out-of-pocket payments, such as deductibles and co-insurance, and encouraged access to primary care.
She said Haven also identified areas for reducing the cost of prescription drugs and “the issues addressed are fraud, waste and abuse”.
Amazon, JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway have stated that they intend to continue the informal collaboration.