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I thought this was a joke at first but seems to be serious. What is the endgame for Amazon with a service like this for their employees? What do the employees m

I thought this was a joke at first but seems to be serious. What is the endgame for Amazon with a service like this for their employees? What do the employees miss out on using Amazon Care instead of a third-party healthcare provider and vice-versa? Their FAQ (https://amazon.care/faq https://amazon.care/faq) should include a "Why Amazon Care"

jpm_sd 7y ago
They're hoping to save a TON of money. This isn't their only health care experiment: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-09-26/amazon-healthcare-prime-david-lazarus https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-09-26/amazon-hea... They're also hoping to deliver a higher quality service at lower cost... think there might be demand for such a thing? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haven_(healthcare) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haven_(healthcare)
adrianmonk 7y ago
I haven't been following closely, but I assume this must be the launch of Haven: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haven_(healthcare) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haven_(healthcare) The reason is to save money by bringing a service in house, just like big companies do with all kinds of other services and products. (For example, if you're a 25-person company, you let a law firm handle your legal work. If you're a 25,000-person company, you have a staff of lawyers who work directly for you.) Insurance companies make a profit, so by doing it yourself, you can keep that money instead of giving it to them. I don't see a reason to believe it should necessarily mean their employees miss out on anything. In theory they're at an advantage by cutting out the middleman. So in theory they could cut costs and increase benefits even if they can't improve and operate it more efficiently than current insurance companies.
hammock 7y ago
The end game is a product for the entire US. Amazon employees is just the pilot.

jpm_sd 7y ago

They're hoping to save a TON of money. This isn't their only health care experiment: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-09-26/amazon-healthcare-prime-david-lazarus https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-09-26/amazon-hea... They're also hoping to deliver a higher quality service at lower cost... think there might be demand for such a thing? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haven_(healthcare) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haven_(healthcare)

adrianmonk 7y ago

I haven't been following closely, but I assume this must be the launch of Haven: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haven_(healthcare) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haven_(healthcare) The reason is to save money by bringing a service in house, just like big companies do with all kinds of other services and products. (For example, if you're a 25-person company, you let a law firm handle your legal work. If you're a 25,000-person company, you have a staff of lawyers who work directly for you.) Insurance companies make a profit, so by doing it yourself, you can keep that money instead of giving it to them. I don't see a reason to believe it should necessarily mean their employees miss out on anything. In theory they're at an advantage by cutting out the middleman. So in theory they could cut costs and increase benefits even if they can't improve and operate it more efficiently than current insurance companies.

hammock 7y ago

The end game is a product for the entire US. Amazon employees is just the pilot.