Amazon revolutionizes the push for affordable health care
Alexander Derbas // Contributor
Amazon, along with the renowned publicly traded companies JPMorgan and Berkshire Hathaway, announced that they would create an independent health care company for their employees at a much lower cost than the national US cost of health care on Jan. 30. This new startup would be run as a non-profit aiming to serve their employee health care needs and to enhance their medical services.
Given the skyrocketing costs of healthcare in the United States, Amazon must proceed to institute a health care system into its employee plan. There are enough horror stories of peoples’ grandparents and vulnerable groups such as children being denied health care due to its unaffordability. It shouldn’t take the deaths of many ill and susceptible civilians to institute independent or universal health care alternatives that are affordable and accessible.
The current system is filled with corporate greed that ignores the needs of lower-income and middle-class Americans who have enough difficulty receiving their necessary medications, appointments, and surgical procedures. Company and governmental disregard for the welfare of their employees and citizens must be abolished; Reform is essential to healing the fudged up American health care system. As stated by founder and CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, “Hard as it might be, reducing health care’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.”
Critics of this health care startup, however, doubt how feasible it will be to create a new health care company. Angelica LaVito of CNBC asserts how “industry experts have cautioned people to temper their excitement, especially since other companies have tried — and failed — similar ideas before. About 40 major companies, including names like American Express and Macy’s, have joined the Health Transformation Alliance to try to lower costs.” With many companies having attempted a similar concept to what Amazon is proposing, it makes sense why skeptics challenge whether an independent healthcare company is realistic or even capable of survival within the industry.
Regardless of naysayers, Amazon should proceed to create an independent health care company. As it stands, the current American health care system is deeply flawed and hurts the very people it is supposed to help. Member of the Cambridge Health Alliance, David Cecere, pointed out that “Uninsured, working-age Americans have 40 percent higher death risk than privately insured counterparts.” With the immense unaffordability and inaccessibility of the current US system, it is a noble move for Amazon to create a separate health care system for its employees. This is a step in the right direction to providing Americans with alternatives to the current malformed health care system. All Americans deserve to experience a bright, healthy future of vitality and prosperity.