Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon are joining forces to launch their own healthcare company, according to a press release today on Business Wire.
The goal of their new joint venture “is to create solutions that benefit our U.S. employees, their families and, potentially, all Americans,” said Bezos.
But what does that mean for everyone else in the health insurance industry?
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Right now — nothing. Aside from a quick, and might I add pretty painful, hit to stock prices of insurance carriers like Cigna, Aetna and UnitedHealth, there won’t be any immediate repercussions.
What can be speculated though is that these three enormous companies will make potentially huge waves as they pull employees off current major carriers’ services. Depleting members reduces the pool of money that insurance carriers will have for their own claims and administration. If the majority of those leaving are young, healthy people, some Americans could see an increase in costs for their insurance plan — on top of already rising prices in the industry overall.
On a more positive note, new enthusiasm and innovation might just be what the industry needs. Having new blood in an incredibly old, often entrenched system might spur creative strategies to encourage savings. Major carriers across the country will have to do something to shore up for the changes this new company could bring.
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Ultimately employees of the three companies will benefit first as the new healthcare company will be staged to take care of just them as a starting point. If Bezos statement rings true after this initial step, it may benefit “potentially, all Americans” by providing healthy competition into an ever-shrinking market.