Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan to Close Health Benefits Effort

"The ballooning costs of health care act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy," Buffet said, in a statement about the Haven launch. "Our group does not come to this problem with answers. But we also do not accept it as inevitable."

Bezos acknowledged that the effort to revamp health coverage would be difficult.

"Hard as it might be, reducing health care's burden on the economy while improving outcomes for employees and their families would be worth the effort," Bezos said in his statement. "Success is going to require talented experts, a beginner's mind, and a long-term orientation."

In May 2018, Haven organizers hired Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and a professor at Harvard's medical school, to be the company's CEO.

Haven announced in May 2020 that Gawande would move from being the CEO to being the chairman. Mitch Betses, the chief operating officer, took over management of operations.

Haven managers did not give a reason for the change, and they were also quiet about the company's coverage development efforts.

Haven is one of many efforts by big companies to try to reshape the U.S. health care system in the past 20 years.

Walmart, for example, succeeded at changing some parts of the generic pharmaceutical market, by offering some common generic drugs for $4 per prescription.

Other efforts, such as efforts by tech companies to modernize U.S. patient health records management, have been slower to take off.

— Related:

• On the Third Hand: Google Winds Down Personal Health Record Project
• ACA: Feds Seek Comments on Nonprofit Health Plans
• Walmart Adds Patient Care
• Walgreen Clinics to Handle Chronic Illness Care
• Health Reform Is Really Hard: S&P Panelists