INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A healthcare company founded by Amazon AMZN,
Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B,
BRK.A,
and JPMorgan Chase JPM,
tackling skyrocketing costs solves.
Haven, which was founded in 2018 by the three US corporate giants, will cease operations in late February, a spokeswoman said Monday. She gave no reason for the company’s dissolution.
The independent company was founded to focus on improving the care provided to employees of those companies, while better managing costs. But benefits experts expected that plans developed by Haven would be widely adopted by other companies if they proved effective in controlling costs.
The news of the company’s founding nearly three years ago sparked a brief shudder by the stock of health insurance companies managing employer-sponsored coverage.
But the Boson-based venture has been largely silent since appointing a high-profile CEO – Harvard professor, author and surgeon Dr. Atul Gawande – and subsequently announced the name in 2019.
Gawande left last May.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, employer-sponsored insurance covers about 157 million people. That’s nearly half of the total U.S. population and most of the country’s patchwork health insurance market.
For years, health care costs have risen faster than wages and inflation, putting pressure on families and employers. The founders of Haven warned from the start that the company had a tough job and that they did not expect quick solutions.
They had different priorities for the company. They wanted 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, in particular, deal with obesity and smoking, which are responsible for chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and depression.
A spokeswoman for Haven said the company has made progress in a number of areas. It started with new designs for health care benefits that eliminated patient out-of-pocket contributions such as deductibles and coinsurance and encouraged access to primary care.
She said Haven also identified areas to reduce the cost of prescription drugs and that “issues addressed are related to fraud, waste and abuse.”
Amazon, JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway said they plan to work together informally.