What a future healthcare system with Amazon, Berkshire & JP Morgan could look like:
Bottom Line: The announcement last week that two of the three world's richest men and the world's top banker were getting together to create a non-profit to address healthcare costs has received a lot of worthy attention. Aside from attention however, no one really seems what to know what to do this this news. That's fine. They're still trying to figure it out too but the path has the potential to be extremely clear and perhaps be the catalyst to finally address the real crisis with healthcare which is how much it costs you.
For going on 20 years I've railed on the failings of the insurance first healthcare model and have offered up the common sense solution to deal with the real issue - which isn't access, isn't insurance (insurance is an obstacle to afford healthcare - not the gateway to it) but cost. Despite being loud and consistent about what would happen to healthcare costs under Obamacare, I was shouted down by Democrats who believed the lies of Obama and elected Democrats hook, line and sinker (despite never being able to challenge my facts and projections). In the end they lost, just as we all did, so at least they too had to pay for their poor voting decisions. So what now?
Step one of a fix is an end of the insurance first model. As long as you sign pieces of paper saying that you'll pay for whatever an insurance company doesn't for a visit that hasn't even occurred, that no one really knows the cost of - we're screwed. The solution is health insurance as an emergency backstop like other insurance products - rather than the filter between you and medical care. What better place to start than Berkshire which is largely built on non-medical insurance companies, a la Geico. Secondly, we need consumer price transparency so we can show for medical services based on cost and quality of care. What better portal than the largest consumer shopping platform in the world - Amazon.com. And Chase can handle the funding and banking. Make sense? Could be a winner. I'll update you as we have progress.