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Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Team Up to Disrupt Health Care
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase announced on Tuesday that they would form an independent health care company to serve their employees in the United States. The three companies provided few details about the new entity, other than saying it would initially focus on technology to provide simplified, high-quality health care for their employees and their families, and at a reasonable cost. They said the initiative, which is in the early planning stages, would be a long-term effort "free from profit-making incentives and constraints."
The partnership brings together three of the country's most influential companies to try to improve a system that other companies have tried and failed to change: Amazon, the largest online retailer in the world; Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company led by the billionaire investor Warren E. Buffett; and JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States by assets.
Various health insurance and pharmacy companies were hit by the news:
The move sent shares of health-care stocks falling in early trading. Express Scripts Holding Co. and CVS Health Corp., which manage pharmacy benefits, slumped 6.7 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively. Health insurers Cigna Corp. and Anthem Inc. also dropped. The health-care industry has been nervously eyeing the prospect of competition from Amazon for months. While the new company created by Amazon, Berkshire and JPMorgan would be for their U.S. staff only, this is the first big move by Amazon into the industry. The new collaboration could pressure profits for middlemen in the U.S. health-care supply chain.
Related: $54 Billion Anthem-Cigna Health Insurer Merger Rejected by U.S. Judge
CVS Attempting $66 Billion Acquistion of Health Insurer Aetna
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @08:44PM (11 children)
There will always be risk, and managing that risk is a service known as "insurance".
Not everyone needs risk to be serviced in the same way; meeting the needs of various risk profiles is how insurance companies create wealth for society. Competing insurance providers create wealth by finding better ways to manage risk; as with all activities in the market, the competition between participants is actually cooperation to find the best ways to allocate resources.
Part of the problem with the insurance market of today is that governmental meddling has indeed forced insurance companies to act more like payment networks rather than risk managers. However, the problem that needs to be solved is not payment, but rather risk management, and the only way your single payer option handles that is through Tyranny, which—as already explained—will only provide a transient solution at best.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @09:05PM
If it weren't for that darn government and their pesky dogs!! We'd all be living the good life in anarcho-capitalist utopia!@!
For someone who seems to be intelligent you sure do make me question the dictionary.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 30 2018, @10:44PM (8 children)
I strongly disagree. Insurance creates nothing, and they produce no wealth, for society at large, nor for individuals. The insurance industry is nothing more than legalized gambling. And, as you should be aware, the house always wins. The odds are stacked in favor of the house, such that, they can afford to make a big payout on occasion, just to keep the suckers coming back for more. When GP referred to the insurance industry as parasitic, he was right on target.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @12:43AM (7 children)
That goes for the entire FIRE sector: Finance, Insurance, Real Estate.
They are all extractive.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @01:16AM (5 children)
I just bought another house. It's a disaster; the previous owner used it up for all its worth and then some, and it's falling apart and filled with unspeakable things.
I'm the person who's going to cut out the rot, replace the plumbing, upgrade the flooring, rehang doors, re-do electrical, apply new decor, and clean out the pathogens in order to revive what is otherwise a dead and useless structure; I'm the person who is going to make a livable space for someone, and I'm doing it solely for profit.
I'm providing a service to society. It's not extractive. It's productive. And, it's voluntary for everyone involved.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @01:30AM (4 children)
You are talking about the construction trade.
I'm talking about landlords who repeatedly increase rents without improving anything.
...and who simply BUY from builders; they add nothing.
I'm talking about people who make money when they are ASLEEP.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @02:38AM (3 children)
When a landlord buys from a builder, he's paying for that building—it only got built because he bought it!
What's wrong with you? How can you not perceive that?
If you're not making money while you sleep, you're a drag on society; you're wasting so much time.
Even slums are a matter of management. Many people who rent are total trash—they are worse than unruly children—and need at least a modicum of external structure. That is a service.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @02:58AM (2 children)
The landlord PERFORMS NO LABOR.
What he is doing is NOT productive; it is EXTRACTIVE.
He makes money WHILE HE IS ASLEEP.
In Poland, 27 percent of the residences are in housing cooperatives.
Those folks have no landlords.
In particular, no landlords who continually jack up rents while making no improvements, but instead letting things fall apart.
What -those- folks have is a superior system.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @06:37AM
Why are those dwellings falling apart?
Why don't those renters pool saved resources and buy out the landlord?
Do things right. Follow the rules of the game. Only engage in voluntary trade; that's all we ask.
When you socialists take over (again), you'll quickly find that most slumdwellers ain't your average Pole, my friend. So, being the anti-capitalists that you are, you'll try to make a New Man, like you always do, and when traditional education fails, you'll start labeling undesirables for later transport to the
gulags"re-education" centers, far out of the way of civilized people, where you'll later send those misguided fools who have dissenting opinions. Then your society will collapse under the weight of its Tyranny, and you'll beg us Capitalists to come back and save your sorry, starving asses (again).(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @01:54PM
Why are those dwellings falling apart?
Why don't those renters pool saved resources and buy out the landlord?
Do things right. Follow the rules of the game. Only engage in voluntary trade; that's all we ask.
When you socialists take over (again), you'll quickly find that most slumdwellers ain't your average Pole, my friend. So, being the anti-capitalists that you are, you'll try to make a New Man, like you always do, and when traditional education fails, you'll start labeling undesirables for later transport to the
gulags"re-education" centers, far out of the way of civilized people, where you'll later send those misguided fools who have dissenting opinions. Then your society will collapse under the weight of its Tyranny, and you'll beg us Capitalists to come back and save your sorry, starving asses (again).(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @12:27PM
I don't agree. Rental property does provide value to tenants. Landlords are responsible for maintenance. Landlords must deal with the hassle of making repairs or out sourcing them. In my area, if a property can't be used for its purpose, the landlord must pay the tenant the costs of not being able to use the property. Renting allows for flexibility. It is much easier to pack up and move when you don't have to worry about selling a property. Try selling a house in area where the main employer left town. Renting lowers startup costs for new businesses. Even renting retail space has merits. Suppose I own a chain of clothing stores. I want to open a store in an area with completely different demographics. I can buy or build a store and be on the hook for all the associated costs (interest, taxes, closing closts) and pay 2X dollars to test the market for a year or I can rent and pay 1X dollars. Buying property outright might not be the best return on capital for a growing business so renting can make sense. So with the clothing store example, by renting, I can open two new stores with a known cost of the property for the length of the lease, or open one new store with the potential for unexpected costs. Renting is great for contractors on the move a lot. Have a 6 month contract to build ABC corps ERP system? The costs of 2 real estate transactions would be more than 6 months rent; that is assuming you can sell the property the day you are done and you sell it for what you paid for it.
I agree on health insurance, but with property and auto, it protects me from being wiped out financially by a storm, mechanical failure, etc. I may never have to use that insurance, but I gladly pay less than 1% of my income to protect me from losing 10 years or more of income should I be hit with some bad luck.
Disagree with you on finance too. Paying 5 or 10 dollars to easily buy or sell securities is much better than signing over a stock certificate or traveling to an exchange. As far as advisors go, there are fee only advisors that will function as a fiduciary that are required by law to act in your best interest (not that self regulated "suitable" FINRA stuff). Banks provide me a convenient way to pay for things and transfer funds. My credit card is easily replaced if lost or stolen. Cash, not so much. Paying it off every month means I pay 0 interest. It takes me 1 minute to move $10k from my bank account to my brokerage account. Much better (and safer) than carrying a wad of hundreds to a stock exchange and signing a stack of certificates and then contacting the company I just bought to provide my contact information so they can send me reports, meeting invitations, and dividend checks by mail. Taking a loan to buy real estate can make a lot of sense when you can deduct the interest from your taxable income and invest in securities that pay a return higher than your interest rate (especially when considering the tax benefit). You benefit even more if the money goes into a tax sheltered account like an IRA.
gewg, you strike me as a an intelligent and passionate individual whose heart is in the right place. I am like that, just remember that uncontrolled passion can be blinding.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday February 01 2018, @09:39AM
And writing shitty operating systems is how Microsoft creates wealth for society?
And creating shitty insecure voting machines and cash machines is how Diebold creates wealth for society?
And selling Daraprim for $750/pill is how Turing pharmaceuticals creates wealth for society?
Are you confusing "doing business, and making a profit doing it" with "creating wealth for society". Clue - a small number of shareholders is not "society".
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves