Case's quest to transform the healthcare industry has tragically earnest roots; he started the effort after his brother, Dan, died of brain cancer. Hospital bureaucracy always frustrates the patient's kin — but suffering does not always lead to wisdom. Dan, a tech investment banker, might have cautioned Case against this plan.

Revolution Health has ended up as a mere information middleman, buying ads on Google and then selling the users who click on them to other advertisers. That's why it inevitably needs to sell; online advertising is a game of volume. With Google eager to bulk up its own health efforts, it's not clear how much longer there will be room for third parties to play. And arbitrage is hardly a revolutionary exercise.

Someone needs to fix the healthcare system. Case's story is suitably tragic; his motivation, noble. But he's not the man for the job.

The first, most famously, was AOL, which he offloaded on Time Warner's shareholders. The second, less well known, was Flexcar, a car-sharing startup which he ended up combining with Zipcar. Dumping Revolution Health would just be the latest face-saving exit for Case.

That the rationale for the deal with Everyday Health is consolidating Web traffic speaks to Case's diminished ambitions. Instead of transforming healthcare, as he loudly said he hoped to do, Case has ended up optimizing websites for search engines. Case's holding company would retain some other health-related startups after the proposed deal, including clinic chain Redi-Clinic and insurance broker Extend Health. None show transformative promise, but unlike Revolution Health, they at least sound like sensible businesses.