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Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan to Create Healthcare Company

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Re: Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan to Create Healthcare Company

#401

Post by sagichmal »

visarga wrote: post #325
jawns wrote: post #7

> The three companies said they plan to set up a new independent company "that is free from profit-making incentives and constraints." I wonder if they will be setting it up as a health insurance cooperative, an organizational structure in which the primary goal is to serve its members, rather than to generate value for external shareholders: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_insurance_cooperative It's not at all…

> distributism Thank you for giving a name to something I have been pondering a lot. I have come to this conclusion by thinking about automation and technological unemployment. If people own land, or productive tools, they can be self reliant and exist without jobs from corporations, or help from the state. Naturally people would organise as a cooperative or a market of services, exchanging services for services, bec…

Why is this form of self-reliance a virtue? To me, it looks pathological; certainly not something we should collectively be working towards.

Re: Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan to Create Healthcare Company

#402

Post by dev360 »

malyk wrote: post #351
megaman22 wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, Blue Cross/Blue Shield are usually highway robbery for terrible plans, so... The whole thing is broken. A friend of mine is switching jobs and is going to forking over a third of her paycheck for COBRA until the new job enrolls her in their plan. Almost certainly, nothing will happen in that short time period, and she'll have wasted thousands of dollars. But if something did happen, and she didn't pay the…

She can wait until an incident happens and then activate cobra. You don't have to pay for it upfront.

This was really good to know, had no idea.

Re: Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan to Create Healthcare Company

#405

Post by dang »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #36
jonwachob91 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> occupy the vacuum US policy has left Others might argue this is free market at work.

I wish you were able to get the opportunity to die from undertreated diabetes complications (probably attributable to lack of health insurance coverage) in your 40s instead of my buddy. I mean, I'd rather you both have had coverage and lived long healthy lives, but if one had to go I wish it was the one that supported the cause.

I'm sorry about your buddy, but please don't channel that grief into personal attacks on Hacker News.

Re: Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan to Create Healthcare Company

#406

Post by infinite8s »

joncrane wrote: post #215
mapgrep wrote: post #176

As some other people have mentioned below, the much lauded[1] vertically integrated health provider Kaiser Permanente started this way, as the health provider caring for the workers of an enlightened large employer, Kaiser Steel, which at the time was a massive shipbuilder for the Navy and others headquartered in California with a major presence in the SF Bay Area. I was briefly covered by a Kaiser plan, and have a l…

Kaiser Permanente has a huge presence in the Washington, DC area.

They are the main healthcare provider for a large swath of federal government workers in the DC area.

Re: Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan to Create Healthcare Company

#407

Post by bgibson »

sagichmal wrote: post #401
visarga wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> distributism Thank you for giving a name to something I have been pondering a lot. I have come to this conclusion by thinking about automation and technological unemployment. If people own land, or productive tools, they can be self reliant and exist without jobs from corporations, or help from the state. Naturally people would organise as a cooperative or a market of services, exchanging services for services, bec…

Why is this form of self-reliance a virtue? To me, it looks pathological; certainly not something we should collectively be working towards.

Reducing interdependence in human society mitigates systemic risk. It absolutely is a virtue to be collectively working towards.

Re: Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan to Create Healthcare Company

#408

Post by s2g »

pc86 wrote: post #146
nojvek wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Single payer healthcare is the best soln. Agreed, However I can’t see it working more than a presidential term. America is too politically unstable. What i’d love to see is a commercial business having vertical integration. Insanely cheap basics like X-rays, mris, and other checks. Heavy use of AI based diagnosis confirmed by doctors, and a big insurance pool where profits go back into scaling healthcare. Basically c…

Who is going to develop AI-based diagnosis platforms if there's no profit to be made?

Why wouldn't you make a profit? You sell that technology to hospitals and such the world over.

You just might not have the option of telling someone it's 10 grand (with ridiculous profit margins) to get an earlier diagnosis and a chance at actually living.

Re: Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan to Create Healthcare Company

#409

Post by astrange »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #41
avocadoLife wrote: post #35

I always think that it's only a matter of time before some company with vast capital (looking at you Apple) finds their own way to set up a city/country with their own ecosystem (healthcare, transport etc.), with less bureaucracy and more efficiently.

I think this is what a lot of politicians think, also. They don't want government run healthcare because it's only a matter of time before the market fixes healthcare. Edit: I think Apple is only interested in medical devices.

Apple has their own employee doctor's office, dentist, gyms, etc.

Actually, health is the only "tech company" benefit you get as an employee there, since they won't even give you free food or a nap pod.

Re: Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan to Create Healthcare Company

#410

Post by [deleted] »

danans wrote: post #316
losteverything wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im talking about totally thinking differently, not the current situation. About having a lot of money saved....after a prosthetic implant i added up stuff. $143,000 spent on insurance since 2005. Part employer part me. Up until the prosthetic less than $5k (if that) on health. $143k is almost 3 years pay. I would have rather had it paid to me. Then i would have spent my money for my healthcare

> $143k is almost 3 years pay. I would have rather had it paid to me. Then i would have spent my money for my healthcare What would you do in the unfortunate event that you required medical treatment that cost 10x your annual pay (a real possibility)? Absent an insurance policy, who would you expect to pay for that? Or would you instead expect your employer to pay you (and everyone else) the maximum theoretical healt…

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