Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan to Create Healthcare Company
&gt; The three companies said they plan to set up a new independent company &quot;that is free from profit-making incentives and constraints.&quot;<p>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: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Health_insurance_cooperative" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Health_insurance_cooperative</a><p>It&#x27;s not at all unprecedented for publicly traded companies to create cooperatives for their employees.  Employee credit unions are one example.<p>Co-ops were part of an early proposal while the ACA was still shaping out, but unfortunately, due to pressure from for-profit health insurers, they were later shot down: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2009&#x2F;08&#x2F;17&#x2F;health&#x2F;policy&#x2F;17talkshows.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2009&#x2F;08&#x2F;17&#x2F;health&#x2F;policy&#x2F;17talkshows....</a><p>As a fan of distributism <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Distributism" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Distributism</a>, I would love to see an increase in health insurance cooperatives, and cooperatives in general.  Under a cooperative structure, the members&#x2F;policyholders fully own the company, so it&#x27;s not beholden to outside shareholders seeking to profit at the expense of its members.  Any profits that a cooperative generates are returned back to the members&#x2F;policyholders in the form of lower premiums, or improvements to services.