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Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan Chase, and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway announced they would attempt to "disrupt" the health insurance industry by creating their own independent healthcare company, first serving their employees and potentially other Americans. The plan was met with skepticism from single-payer healthcare advocates. (Photo: NBC News)
Medicare-for-All Proponents Warn Against Billionaires' Plan to "Disrupt" Healthcare Industry
"We can do better than a healthcare system run by a rent-seeker, a slumlord and a Wall Street bank. It's called Medicare for All."
Jan 30, 2018
A newly-announced plan by three of the most prominent billionaires in the U.S. to "disrupt" the American health insurance industry was met with extreme skepticism from advocates of a government-run healthcare system on Tuesday.
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and J.P. Morgan Chase released a statement saying they would partner to create an independent healthcare company for their employees that would be "free from profit-making incentives and constraints."
"Our goal is to create solutions that benefit our U.S. employees, their families and, potentially, all Americans," said J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.
"The ballooning costs of healthcare act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy," added Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest people in the world.
The plan, which is in its early stages, represents a sharp turn away from a single-payer healthcare system which would provide care for all Americans, said critics including the Democratic Socialists of America.
\u201cWe can do better than a healthcare system run by a rent-seeker, a slumlord and a Wall Street bank. It\u2019s called Medicare for All. https://t.co/xhO9Cqk8TQ\u201d— DSA \ud83c\udf39 (@DSA \ud83c\udf39) 1517319233
\u201cWho better to decide healthcare than a man that's been destroying small business for decades, another whose greed helped destroy global economy, and the largest shareholder in #DAPL? https://t.co/oUzduOGx44\u201d— Jordan (@Jordan) 1517318908
While the three companies appear ready to capitalize on Americans' dissatisfaction with the for-profit health insurance sector by promising an alternative, a growing majority support a government-run or single-payer healthcare system like the ones enjoyed by every other industrialized nation in the world.
Fifty-three percent now support a plan like Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) Medicare for All proposal, up from just 50 percent in 2016.
At Jacobin--in a piece titled "You Can't Trust Capitalists"--Meagan Day and Dustin Guastella warned after Sanders' Town Hall on Medicare for All last week that single-payer advocates should be wary of any attempts by corporations to wade into the national debate over how healthcare should be provided in the U.S.
"When progressive and left-wing politicians and political organizations neglect to keep capitalists at arm's length, the latter's outsize resources give them outsized influence--often resulting in weakened policy and a diluted program," they wrote. "In order to ensure the eventual passage of comprehensive policy that benefits workers, not just employers, proponents of Medicare for All need to walk a fine line, stoking divisions within the capitalist class without giving the business community a seat at the table."
Journalist Natalie Shure argued that the only true "disruption" of the health insurance industry would involve covering every American and rejecting a for-profit model altogether.
\u201c"super good healthcare, but only for employees of a few incredibly wealthy companies" is pretty much the opposite of disrupting the healthcare system\u201d— Natalie Shure (@Natalie Shure) 1517332853
\u201cthe best idea I've heard for disrupting the healthcare industry is replacing private insurance companies with one unified public insurance pool that covers everyone\u201d— Natalie Shure (@Natalie Shure) 1517331255
Others on social media advocated for a single-payer healthcare system and scoffed at the notion that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Buffett, and Dimon, are qualified to or truly interested in offering a public service.
\u201cOf course we can trust Amazon to solve America's health-care crisis. When has Jeff Bezos ever given any indication that his company does not value the health and well-being of all Americans?\u201d— Eric Levitz (@Eric Levitz) 1517318721
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amazon rainforestbernie sanderscorporate powerdemocratic socialists of americahealthcarejamie dimonjeff bezosmedicare for allsingle-payerwall street
A newly-announced plan by three of the most prominent billionaires in the U.S. to "disrupt" the American health insurance industry was met with extreme skepticism from advocates of a government-run healthcare system on Tuesday.
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and J.P. Morgan Chase released a statement saying they would partner to create an independent healthcare company for their employees that would be "free from profit-making incentives and constraints."
"Our goal is to create solutions that benefit our U.S. employees, their families and, potentially, all Americans," said J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.
"The ballooning costs of healthcare act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy," added Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest people in the world.
The plan, which is in its early stages, represents a sharp turn away from a single-payer healthcare system which would provide care for all Americans, said critics including the Democratic Socialists of America.
\u201cWe can do better than a healthcare system run by a rent-seeker, a slumlord and a Wall Street bank. It\u2019s called Medicare for All. https://t.co/xhO9Cqk8TQ\u201d— DSA \ud83c\udf39 (@DSA \ud83c\udf39) 1517319233
\u201cWho better to decide healthcare than a man that's been destroying small business for decades, another whose greed helped destroy global economy, and the largest shareholder in #DAPL? https://t.co/oUzduOGx44\u201d— Jordan (@Jordan) 1517318908
While the three companies appear ready to capitalize on Americans' dissatisfaction with the for-profit health insurance sector by promising an alternative, a growing majority support a government-run or single-payer healthcare system like the ones enjoyed by every other industrialized nation in the world.
Fifty-three percent now support a plan like Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) Medicare for All proposal, up from just 50 percent in 2016.
At Jacobin--in a piece titled "You Can't Trust Capitalists"--Meagan Day and Dustin Guastella warned after Sanders' Town Hall on Medicare for All last week that single-payer advocates should be wary of any attempts by corporations to wade into the national debate over how healthcare should be provided in the U.S.
"When progressive and left-wing politicians and political organizations neglect to keep capitalists at arm's length, the latter's outsize resources give them outsized influence--often resulting in weakened policy and a diluted program," they wrote. "In order to ensure the eventual passage of comprehensive policy that benefits workers, not just employers, proponents of Medicare for All need to walk a fine line, stoking divisions within the capitalist class without giving the business community a seat at the table."
Journalist Natalie Shure argued that the only true "disruption" of the health insurance industry would involve covering every American and rejecting a for-profit model altogether.
\u201c"super good healthcare, but only for employees of a few incredibly wealthy companies" is pretty much the opposite of disrupting the healthcare system\u201d— Natalie Shure (@Natalie Shure) 1517332853
\u201cthe best idea I've heard for disrupting the healthcare industry is replacing private insurance companies with one unified public insurance pool that covers everyone\u201d— Natalie Shure (@Natalie Shure) 1517331255
Others on social media advocated for a single-payer healthcare system and scoffed at the notion that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Buffett, and Dimon, are qualified to or truly interested in offering a public service.
\u201cOf course we can trust Amazon to solve America's health-care crisis. When has Jeff Bezos ever given any indication that his company does not value the health and well-being of all Americans?\u201d— Eric Levitz (@Eric Levitz) 1517318721
A newly-announced plan by three of the most prominent billionaires in the U.S. to "disrupt" the American health insurance industry was met with extreme skepticism from advocates of a government-run healthcare system on Tuesday.
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and J.P. Morgan Chase released a statement saying they would partner to create an independent healthcare company for their employees that would be "free from profit-making incentives and constraints."
"Our goal is to create solutions that benefit our U.S. employees, their families and, potentially, all Americans," said J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.
"The ballooning costs of healthcare act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy," added Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest people in the world.
The plan, which is in its early stages, represents a sharp turn away from a single-payer healthcare system which would provide care for all Americans, said critics including the Democratic Socialists of America.
\u201cWe can do better than a healthcare system run by a rent-seeker, a slumlord and a Wall Street bank. It\u2019s called Medicare for All. https://t.co/xhO9Cqk8TQ\u201d— DSA \ud83c\udf39 (@DSA \ud83c\udf39) 1517319233
\u201cWho better to decide healthcare than a man that's been destroying small business for decades, another whose greed helped destroy global economy, and the largest shareholder in #DAPL? https://t.co/oUzduOGx44\u201d— Jordan (@Jordan) 1517318908
While the three companies appear ready to capitalize on Americans' dissatisfaction with the for-profit health insurance sector by promising an alternative, a growing majority support a government-run or single-payer healthcare system like the ones enjoyed by every other industrialized nation in the world.
Fifty-three percent now support a plan like Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) Medicare for All proposal, up from just 50 percent in 2016.
At Jacobin--in a piece titled "You Can't Trust Capitalists"--Meagan Day and Dustin Guastella warned after Sanders' Town Hall on Medicare for All last week that single-payer advocates should be wary of any attempts by corporations to wade into the national debate over how healthcare should be provided in the U.S.
"When progressive and left-wing politicians and political organizations neglect to keep capitalists at arm's length, the latter's outsize resources give them outsized influence--often resulting in weakened policy and a diluted program," they wrote. "In order to ensure the eventual passage of comprehensive policy that benefits workers, not just employers, proponents of Medicare for All need to walk a fine line, stoking divisions within the capitalist class without giving the business community a seat at the table."
Journalist Natalie Shure argued that the only true "disruption" of the health insurance industry would involve covering every American and rejecting a for-profit model altogether.
\u201c"super good healthcare, but only for employees of a few incredibly wealthy companies" is pretty much the opposite of disrupting the healthcare system\u201d— Natalie Shure (@Natalie Shure) 1517332853
\u201cthe best idea I've heard for disrupting the healthcare industry is replacing private insurance companies with one unified public insurance pool that covers everyone\u201d— Natalie Shure (@Natalie Shure) 1517331255
Others on social media advocated for a single-payer healthcare system and scoffed at the notion that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Buffett, and Dimon, are qualified to or truly interested in offering a public service.
\u201cOf course we can trust Amazon to solve America's health-care crisis. When has Jeff Bezos ever given any indication that his company does not value the health and well-being of all Americans?\u201d— Eric Levitz (@Eric Levitz) 1517318721
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