Health insurers fall after JPMorgan, Amazon, Berkshire team up

Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan Chase announced a new joint venture to tackle the health care industry. Between the three companies, 1.1 million people are employed. The new company looks to use technology to simplify its workers’ health care.

Shares of major U.S. health insurers were taking a hit Tuesday, reacting to the announcement from JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) that they are forming a partnership to address health care for their U.S. employees, with the goal of improving employee satisfaction while reducing costs.

The high cost of health care in the U.S. has long been a concern, with Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffet stating, “The ballooning costs of healthcare act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy,” in the press release announcing the companies’ partnership.

U.S. per capita health care spending totaled $9,024 in 2014, according to the Peter G. Petersen Foundation, which is about double the average of other developed countries in the world.

Health care companies taking a big hit on the news include UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH), Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX) CVS Health (NYSE:CVS), Cigna (NYSE:CI), Anthem (NYSE:ANTM) and Humana (NYSE:HUM).