Business
AOL founder establishes health plan
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted April 25, 2005
The founder of America Online says he's put up $500 million of his personal wealth to establish a new company called Revolution that will market consumer-directed health plans and promote wellness programs.
Steve Case said April 4 that the new powerhouse would bankroll ventures in the health care field and in the vacation resort industry. Although Case gave few specifics, the Revolution Web site said that the company has been working for a year to create "the first comprehensive, consumer-driven health care company, designed totally around meeting the needs of consumers and giving them more choice," and would be ready to unveil it in May.
Revolution is based in Washington, D.C., and Case is its president.
Case told The Washington Post that he had become aware of the deficiencies in the present health care system in his role as a patient and a parent, and in conversations with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD (R, Tenn.).
"It is the largest industry in the country, and almost everyone is unhappy with it," Case told the Post. The new company "is a significant commitment and will be my principal focus," he said.
Case also announced he was buying the assets of West Virginia-based Wisdom Media Group, a developer of health-related programming for cable and satellite TV networks.
Case built AOL into an Internet powerhouse, and then, at the top of the tech-stock bubble, led AOL's acquisition of Time Warner. Case quit as chair of AOL Time Warner in 2003 as investors criticized the company for heavy financial losses and a falling stock price.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/04/25/bibf0425.htm.
