Just another step in dominance for Amazon. Pretty soon you will be able to upload your prescriptions to Amazon and Prime Now will deliver within an hour, for $8.99
CVS owns the 2nd largest prescription benefit management provider and is purchasing the 5th largest health insurance provider. They will be able to use differing co-pay levels to drive pharmacy business.
Walmart has been negotiating either a purchase or partnership with Humana. This may drive Walmart to be more agressive towards finalizing a deal or maybe even have them looking at a different potential target such as Cigna which has agreed the purchase Express scripts, the largest PBM.
I remember all the way back to when Merck spun out Merck Medco, which Express Scripts acquired (by that time, renamed Medco Health Solutions) to become the largest. Amazon is a guppy in an ocean with this acquisition. And yet Bezos owns WaPo, which is the basis for my statement.
I think he is specifically calling out the "tweeting" portion. IE, yes, companies have been lobbying to block their competitors for a while, but it's a fairly recent trend that all you have to do now is tell Trump he's the best and he will put out a twitter hit campaign against your competitors
A marketplace and something like pharmacy are completely different. They will still get their drugs from known producers, and on the generics side you'd have things like teva.
I can already get my pharmacy prescriptions from mail order fulfillment houses (up to 90 day supplies even depending on the prescription). What does Amazon offer on top of that? I’ve never not been within 15-20 minutes of a Walgreens or CVS when I needed a prescription immediately, so I don’t see what benefit Amazon brings to this.
They’re (Amazon) not faster, I don’t care if they’re cheaper (insurance coverage), and I don’t trust them (supply chain, motivations, etc).
Well, you're saving the 15-20 minute drive each way (assuming they're not on your way already) and the hassle of talking to someone online.
Remember, AMZN is entering the health insurance space as well, so that vertical integration can remove the "is this covered?" question that some with substandard insurance may have.
And with regards to supply chain issues, there's no reason for Amazon to open up their pharmacy service to third party sellers. Yes, they'll get a larger selection faster, but isn't that what this acquisition is for?
To your point, you aren't Amazon's customer, the insurance companies are. They might be able to use their size as leverage for better prices from manufacturers and compensation from insurance companies. There may also be synergies with Amazon's business lines because volume is a big factor in fulfillment costs. All of these factors might give them an edge over other online or brick and mortar pharmacies.
I agree it’s probably a great economy model for people who would have it forced on them (Likely Amazon and JPMC workers who will have their insurance provided by their new employer healthcare consortium).
> I can already get my pharmacy prescriptions from mail order fulfillment houses...
Having just spent two weeks calling daily to get my daughter's specialty medication sorted out, I'm all for Amazon's customer service approach entering this space.
When Amazon promises a resolution/callback, I trust it. Express Scripts promised me callbacks not once, not twice, but four separate times without ever making one.
I completely agree. But being adequate-to-worse is in line the rest of their operation, and yet they're widely popular.
Every time I'm subjected to multiple dark patterns simply in the course of checking out (say, for some brand that makes Amazon their official distribution channel), I wonder why so many seem to be singing their praises. I can only think there's just a sizable segment of newly-digital suburban-hipsters, finally discovering online ordering in general and comparing Amazon to say driving to Target.
The way they're going they're going to announce Amazon Government soon, and solve that problem. Talk about cloud feudalism turning into real feudalism.
