Today’s big news is that Amazon.com’s founder Jeff Bezos has teamed up with Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett and JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon to push down the skyrocketing healthcare costs in the US. One must wonder, however, if it is a serious play or but a marketing schtick. As they say in the press release, as reported by NPR and others, the new company will be ”free from profit-making incentives and constraints” yet aims to “cut costs.”
This sounds a bit backwards. Surely these renowned gentlemen in business are aware of how incentives affect actions, both “actions” by organizations and those taken within organizations. Without a profit motive, what is the incentive to keep costs down, to innovate, and to streamline processes and routines? One must wonder why they choose to fight an uphill battle when it is completely unnecessary.
Profit is hardly what makes healthcare expensive - regulations, especially the government-granted monopoly privileges that permeate that industry, are the main culprit. If you are in business, surely you recognize this. Just like you recognize the power of incentives.
Unless, of course, this is but a marketing ploy, and not an actual attempt to lower healthcare costs.
