Amazon, JPM, Buffett take aim at US healthcare 'tapeworm'

Healthcare companies found themselves in the crosshairs of three of the US' biggest corporate guns on Tuesday as Amazon, JP Morgan and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway joined forces to cut sickness insurance costs for their employees.

The trio said they would bring their "scale and complementary expertise to this long-term effort" through an independent company "free from profit-making incentives and constraints".

"The initial focus of the new company will be on technology solutions that will provide US employees and their families with simplified, high-quality and transparent healthcare at a reasonable cost" they said in a statement.

Buffett, worth an estimated $93bn, said the ballooning costs of US healthcare "act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy".

"Our group does not come to this problem with answers. But we also do not accept it as inevitable. Rather, we share the belief that putting our collective resources behind the country’s best talent can, in time, check the rise in health costs while concurrently enhancing patient satisfaction and outcomes,” he said.

“The healthcare system is complex, and we enter into this challenge open-eyed about the degree of difficulty,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and chief executive.

“Hard as it might be, reducing healthcare’s burden on the economy while improving outcomes for employees and their families would be worth the effort. Success is going to require talented experts, a beginner’s mind, and a long-term orientation,” he added.