Amazon, JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway are looking for a CEO to run their consortium that is tasked with fundamentally changing health care as we know it, and potentially coming to blows with some multibillion incumbents in the process.
Oh, and they'll have to report to the likes of Jamie Dimon, Warren Buffett and Jeff Bezos.
No pressure, or anything.
We don't know much yet, as the details are still vague, but we tapped the internet to help us figure out who could succeed in this role, where so many have failed.
https://twitter.com/chrissyfarr/status/959154484843765760
Here's who the Twitterverse selected:
Michelle Obama
Why? If anyone could take on health care monopolies, it's the fearless former first lady. And she has experience. Before joining her husband in the White House, she served as a senior hospital administrator at the University of Chicago Medical Center. In the seven years in her role as executive director at the office of community affairs, she worked on community relations, volunteer recruitment and staff diversity programs, according to a press release announcing her departure.
While in the White House, she's been credited with putting a "human face" on the issue of health care reform. And in 2010, Obama got behind an initiative to encourage America's kids to get moving and eat healthier to combat the growing obesity epidemic.
Why not? While Obama might have the status and the experience, she's been taking a backseat of late. Last night, she appeared on her first televised interview since leaving the White House a year ago.
Karen B. DeSalvo
DeSalvo is on a mission to bring health care into the 21st-century, making her a wise choice to lead the consortium.
She's New Orleans' former commissioner of health and the vice president of health policy at Tulane University School of Medicine. After helping the city's health infrastructure recover after Hurricane Katrina, she joined the federal government as the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in 2014. She was then named the acting assistant secretary for health, and she was recently appointed to Humana's board.
Why not? Recruiting her might present a challenge. She just got a new gig as faculty at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. It's a wide-ranging job that involves initiatives ranging from community health to medical research.
Toby Cosgrove
Why? Well, he's available and he's got decades of health care experience. Cosgrove resigned last year from his role running Cleveland Clinic after growing revenues from $3.7 billion in 2004 to $8.5 billion in 2016. At one point, he was considered a candidate to head up the Department of Veterans Affairs under the current administration, but withdrew in late 2016.
Why not? Cosgrove famously gave an interview with New Yorker in which he raved about the groundbreaking potential of a technology called Theranos. Oops.
And the winner...
Andy Slavitt
Why? Andy Slavitt has emerged as one of the most influential figures in the health policy landscape, in no small part to his Twitter feed.
Legendary social media presence aside, Slavitt oversaw health care programs that extended to 140 million Americans under President Obama, including Medicaid, Medicare, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and the Health Insurance Marketplace. He's got the experience, and the guts, to take on some of the most entrenched industry interests in health care, which would be required for the job.
All in all, a strong choice Twitter!
Why not? Well, we asked Slavitt whether he'd ever take the job, especially considering the cryptic note in his Twitter bio that he's "launching a health care initiative for the next decade in February." His response? Nothing other than, "thanks, very flattering."