Amazon, Berkshire and JPMorgan will end joint health care venture

A joint venture formed by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase to explore new ways to deliver health care to their employees is disbanding, according to a short statement on its website. 

The company, Haven, will cease operations at the end of February — three years after its arrival sent shock waves through the healthcare industry.

“Haven explored a wide range of health care solutions, as well as piloted new ways to make primary care easier to access, insurance benefits simpler to understand and easier to use, and prescription drugs more affordable,” the statement said.

It is a quiet end to a collaboration between an online retail giant, the holding company led by the billionaire investor Warren E Buffett and the largest bank in the United States.

Haven promised big things from the beginning. By pulling together the know-how and scale of three of the largest employers in America, it aimed to improve how people gain access to health care, starting with their own work forces.

The announcement of the alliance in January 2018 drove health insurers’ stocks lower as investors wagered that the three behemoths would upend the country’s health care system by testing new ideas on more than a million employees.

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©The New York Times 2021