Haven, the joint healthcare venture launched by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan in 2018, is set to shut down and disband by the end of the month, sources at CNBC have reported.
The three companies originally partnered to tackle the “ballooning costs of healthcare” in the US market through Haven.
The launch caused a stir in the re/insurance market at the time, causing shares in major U.S. healthcare providers to sink as much as 10%.
But sources say that since the launch each of the founding companies has pursued its own projects separately with their own employees, making the joint venture obsolete.
The owners have now informed Haven’s 57 workers that doors will close by the end of the month. They are expected to be split between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan as the firms continue to advance their own healthcare agendas.
While the move to close Haven may be a shock to some, it also speaks to the difficulty inherent in any attempt to improve the complex US healthcare industry.
Brooke Thurston, a spokeswoman for Haven, confirmed the planned closure with CNBC, and provided a statement on the matter.
″The Haven team made good progress exploring a wide range of healthcare solutions, as well as piloting new ways to make primary care easier to access, insurance benefits simpler to understand and easier to use, and prescription drugs more affordable,” Thurston said.
“Moving forward, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. will leverage these insights and continue to collaborate informally to design programs tailored to address the specific needs of our individual employee populations and locations,” she said.
