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Amazon launches Amazon Pharmacy for prescription medicine delivery
- llee37x 6y agoJust a heads up, if you use this service PillPack and Amazon Employees have full access to your entire prescription history. Full name, social everything - it was common for employees to look up the info of celebrities / other employees for fun. Any prescription / healthcare info you give them will be sold back to SureScripts and used to sell you more garbage from Amazon ;) https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-mail-order-pharmacy-faces-pushback-11565103923 https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-mail-order-pharmacy-face...
- baskire 6y agoI’m a fan of giving the belief of innocent until proven guilty. You have a firm who’s aligned to cvs making accusations. A firm who’s likely long term going to loose money if Amazon succeeds here. From that article, “Surescripts did, however, inform CVS and Express Scripts ahead of time about its plans to go public with its decision, the spokesmen said.”
- part1of2 6y agoNew account & misinformation? > if you use this service PillPack and Amazon Employees have full access to your entire prescription history That's not what the article you linked says > Any prescription / healthcare info you give them will be sold back to SureScripts and used to sell you more garbage from Amazon ;) That's not what the article you linked says
- whoknew1122 6y agoFar be it for me to dispute the knowledge of a random throwaway, but I'd be surprised if there Amazon didn't have access controls to prevent looking up customer prescription history. I know the hoops I have to go through just to access customer resource metadata in AWS Support. There are multiple, auditable checks that force you to provide access justification to resources -- and the process is routinely modified to make it more onerous and restrictive. If we have dual control mechanisms to access routine information about a customer's VPC, I'd be shocked if Amazon didn't have auditable controls on Amazon Pharmacy.
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- smackjer 6y agoNope. Any PillPack developer can look up any customer in seconds. Other employees have more limited access, but generally quite a bit of access. Access is logged in production, but developers can also get a clone of the entire production database pretty easily. That's not necessarily a problem or a HIPAA violation, depending on how it's used, although the opportunity for abuse exists. They cover their ass with annual HIPAA training.
- Someone1234 6y agoPlease go ahead and report the multiple HIPAA violations here: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint/index.html https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint/index.html
- jedimastert 6y agoI feel like if this were true HIPPA/HHS would have asses in slings. I've worked in a couple of places that worked with HIPPA-adjacent data and boy howdy you don't not mess with them.
- dragonwriter 6y agoIt's HIPAA, and there's no such meaningful category as HIPAA-adjacent data. Data is either PHI held by HIPAA covered entities or it's not, and consumer health and wellness data that one would see as being equally sensitive but that involves consumer transactions with an entity which is not a “covered entity” as defined in HIPAA (including where the consumer takes information from a covered entity and provides it to the service, so that the service is engaged by the consumer but has no business relation to the covered entity) is simply not PHI protected by HIPAA. On the other hand, the information you describe from a pharmacy customer isn't “HIPAA adjacent”, it's just plain HIPAA PHI. on the gripping hand, lots of places have fairly weak internal controls on access to PHI; there is no required independent certification of practices, only after-the-fact enforcement when an unauthorized use occurs, is reported, and is investigated. And lots of places that haven't been caught out yet have training in what your not allowed to do with data, but inadequate controls on what you can do and inadequate auditing of what you have done.
- bovermyer 6y agoMinor quibble - HIPAA and HITECH are not the same thing, but many people lump the two together. HIPAA is the general policy. HITECH is what regulates how that policy can be implemented in technology.
- dragonwriter 6y ago> Minor quibble - HIPAA and HITECH are not the same thing They are separate legislative actions, but HITECH is largely amendments to HIPAA, and can't really be considered in isolation. References to what HIPAA requires generally refer to not only the original HIPAA enactment but subsequent amendments (such as, but not limited to, those in the ACA and HITECH), and regulations and guidance adopted under HIPAA (as amended). Distinguishing HITECH from HIPAA makes sense in terms of discussing legislatibve history, but less so in terms of discussing current rules. It is also not accurate to draw the division as HIPAA being "general policy" and HITECH being "how that policy can be implemented in technology." Its true that HITECH (more precisely, guidance/regulation mandated by and adopted subsequently to HITECH's amendments to HIPAA) provides more technical specificity in some areas, particularly privacy/security, than was in HIPAA (and regulations under HIPAA) prior to HITECH, but HITECH also amended aspects of HIPAA that fall into the general policy area (for instance, direct liability of Business Associates), and there were specific technical standards adopted under HIPAA prior to HITECH and also under mandates stemming from post-HITECH (notably, ACA) amendments to HIPAA.
- _alex_ 6y agoCitation needed
- mysticllama 6y agoWhat is your source for the claim that Amazon - PillPack employees commonly accessed prescription info "for fun?" I worked at PillPack for over 3 years, and while I haven't been there for a while this seems like a very bold claim that is wildly inconsistent with the sort of practices I saw followed in my time there. I don't think using a throwaway to throw shade like this is the right way to handle such a serious matter, but whatever -- if you do legitimately want to address this issue let me know; I could point you to a contact at the company and/or outside of it that would take it seriously and investigate it, as this is very alarming and unacceptable (speaking also as a customer whose data is there).
- throwawayfppcmt 6y agoI lived in Manchester back in 2017 and even though I never worked at PillPack somehow I know names of celebrity clients they had at the time.
- yourapostasy 6y agoGoing to need some much stronger proof than hearsay. My clients in the financial services industry take their PCI and critical risk data access very seriously. Those clients had to share with me the software, controls and training they put into place to enforce those access rules, and I confirmed with long-time employees they've walked staff out of call centers summarily fired for joy-riding the data. I can believe the situation at hospitals can be looser, but financial services being more strict than pharma fulfillment or PBM's would be news to me. I've only had two clients in the PBM space, and they didn't seem to take their infosec lightly either, but that is a much smaller sample space so I'd be interested to hear from those who work in the trenches in PBM's or pharma fulfillment what it is like for them.
- kgin 6y ago>Any prescription / healthcare info you give them will be sold back to SureScripts and used to sell you more garbage from Amazon ;) Literally illegal
- marcod 6y agoI worked for amazon for 10+ years. Sure, in the beginning, a lot of people had access to customer accounts. However, all that was locked down, I wanna say before 2010. Strictly need to know and every access logged. So, if I wasn't able to look what book a customer purchased, I highly doubt I could see anyone's RX, especially since HIPAA is very clear on those points. TL;DR: I think your claim is full of it.
- peter303 6y agoHIPAA makes this a crime. The employee and Amazon would be subject to fines and perhaps prosecution.
- PaulRobinson 6y agoNot actually true though, is it?
- apk136 6y agoI worked on this project and can tell you this is absolutely false. All user info is obfuscated and we have procedures in place to ensure we do not have access to information without express consent from the user. Furthermore, we dont even use surescript anymore. Lastly, all data is walled off from amazon. There is no way for amazon to even know if you are signed up for pharmacy.It is a separate account with a separate cart and all amazon metrics are blocked from this ecosystem.
- varispeed 6y agoCompanies that big should not be allowed to operate. They will have too much personal data and incredible unfair competitive advantage on the market. It's when capitalism doesn't work and where it needs to have emergency stops. Amazon needs to be split into independent companies. Now that Amazon will also know your medical history, know what you are talking about at home, all your preferences, who you meet, what are your problems, probably they know even more that Google. This should be stopped. We shouldn't be trading freedom for a notion of convenience.
- spir 6y agoYou're probably right, and I agree with you. However, in this case, the US healthcare system is so terrible and, in some respects, evil that I'm glad Amazon is working to disrupt (what'll probably end up being) large portions of it.
- varispeed 6y agoThat's a problem right there that a small company couldn't challenge it. Healthcare also is in a desperate need of a reform, as currently is just a gravy train for fat cats meanwhile people are suffering and going bankrupt.
- theplague42 6y agoAnd Amazon isn't just a gravy train for Amazon executives and some employees, while people are suffering and going bankrupt?
- theplague42 6y agoUS healthcare is terrible _because_ it's for-profit. Won't this just entrench it further?
- anonuser123456 6y agoUS healthcare is terrible because of system effects, not the profit motive. Most hospitals are run as non-profits and yet their spending is INSANELY out of control.
- betimsl 6y agoHah, I mean...what can go wrong here really? :D
- varispeed 6y agoSuch knowledge could tempt some hostile action - for example some disgruntled employee could pull a list of people with nut allergy and the same day send them a box of peanuts. With the delivery so quick, nobody could stop such attack.
- bhupy 6y ago> Amazon claims Prime members will be able to save “up to 80 percent off generic and 40 percent off brand name medications when paying without insurance. This was buried in the article, but is IMO a bigger deal. In the long run, this could really drive down drug prices.
- Shivetya 6y agoIt will be very interesting to see their insulin prices and which types of insulin they sell.
- friedegg 6y agoI took a look, and didn't see any huge price breaks.
- NikolaeVarius 6y agoInstead of the Govt being the price negotiator, we got giant corporations instead. yay
- lbacaj 6y agoYou really believe the government will do a better job?
- smeyer 6y agoDon't they do a better job in lots of other countries? I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that a lot of the countries with socialized medicine such that their government is the one negotiating with drug manufacturers pay substantially less for drugs than customers in the US.
- bhupy 6y agoIn other countries, government “negotiation” is just a euphemism for price controls. An example of this is Canada’s Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, which regulates drug prices. This isn’t “negotiation”, this is just centralized policy-driven price control. The US could very well institute their own price controls on drugs, but it wouldn’t invalidate the value in services like Amazon’s, especially if the price controls in question do not create a lower bound on prices, but instead focus on setting upper bounds.
- dbbk 6y agoAs a British citizen, this is so disturbing to me.
- spir 6y agoAs an American resident, I couldn't be more excited for Amazon to disrupt the reprehensible anti-customer practices endemic to the US healthcare system. Recently, I had a runny nose and no fever and thought, "what the heck, let's get a COVID test", and found out they are $200+ here in Austin.
- joncrane 6y agoYour county isn't doing free COVID testing?!?! In my county in Maryland every day there are about 10 sites you can get free testing (though they are not all open all day, but at any given time between 7a-6p you can get tested at least one or two places). There are also private practices where you can pay extra to get the results back 1-2 days earlier.
- whoknew1122 6y agoI had a secondary exposure and my rapid test was $400. Thankfully I have really good insurance and didn't pay anything. My alma mater has an endowment of multiple tens of billions of dollars and was forcing students to pay for COVID tests after having on-campus lectures.
- anonuser123456 6y ago>Thankfully I have really good insurance and didn't pay anything. For the lolz. You are paying for it, you just don't get an itemized bill. It comes at the cost of extremely high 'insurance'. And if you think you're employer just absorbs that cost, realize that the extra cost would be in your pocket as wages if it weren't going towards healthcare.
- whoknew1122 6y ago
- TMWNN 6y agoI've been a PillPack customer for the past six months, since my local pharmacy closed (apparently for good) because of COVID19. It would be nice to be able to fine-grain adjust the monthly delivery date, and/or get more than a 30-day supply at a time, but I have no complaints.
- sytelus 6y agoJust wondering why couldn’t Walgreens do this? During covid, Walgreens is still one store that you must visit physically to get your prescription. I always thought there was some crazy health care regularization that prevented medicine delivery.
- Simulacra 6y agoNot neccessarily. There has been a push in the past ten years for mail order handled by Pharmacy Benefit Managers. PBM's are entities that work directly with the drug manufacturer to purchase in bulk, then delivering straight to the consumer at a lower cost than the pharmacy. The retail pharmacy industry, both chain and independent, absolutely despise PBM's and fight vociferously against them because it gives consumers the option not to go to the pharmacy. I predict Amazon will face the same attacks. Much to a larger issue, though, is the question: Do we really need pharmacists that much anymore? Vending systems would accomplish the same task, for less money. I contend most people don't even speak to a pharmacist anymore.
- yourapostasy 6y ago> I contend most people don't even speak to a pharmacist anymore. While compounding pharmacists are still useful for those esoteric formularies, I would wager "normal" US pharmacists are still relied upon by the vast segment of the US population who are near-functionally illiterate and innumerate, on a big combination of drugs (don't get me started on how unhealthy swathes of the US population are), and cannot be bothered to work out for themselves drug interactions (much less how to get off of the drugs if possible). The disjointed nature of the US healthcare system promotes such inefficiencies.
- Nasrudith 6y agoJust because you don't speak to them or see them doesn't mean they don't do work. They still have the responsibility of spotting known complications. Theoretically it could be replaced with a large database but that is a major undertaking to encode once, let alone keep it up to date. In practice there are also trade-offs and judgement calls like "Yeah this may cause kidney failure but living on dialysis is better than dying of cancer."
- spir 6y agoI wonder if AMZN stock has priced in the possibility, perhaps likely outcome, of tens of millions of Americans getting a substantial portion of their healthcare through "Prime Health" within ten years.
- newbie578 6y agoAmazon is like the bogeyman, in whichever industry you work in, you just hope Amazon doesn't enter your domain and crushes you...
- buttersbrian 6y agoI am all for competition, but i really think there should be some government oversight on prices, even if private services handle the delivery etc. I wonder what items can't be delivered. I suspect a large uptick in the theft of Amazon deliveries with this news.
- tyingq 6y ago>I wonder what items can't be delivered. "Notably, the pharmacy will not sell Schedule II medications, which includes many common opioids like Oxycontin." But, that does still leave expensive meds, like diabetes drugs.
- buttersbrian 6y agoExactly. I read the part about opioids, but there are SO many more drugs of high street value out there. Beyond insulin, schedule 3 or lower designated drugs include: Suboxone, Ketamine, Klonopin, Xanax, and Valium.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- nerdjon 6y agoI personally already use PillPack, but what I am more curious is this line that so far I can only find on the verge and not any of the Amazon pages. "Prime members will also be able to save on medication bought in person from over 50,000 pharmacies across the US, including Rite Aid, CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens." I assume that means that Amazon actually worked with all of these companies? Does anyone see that on any of the Amazon pages?
- exhilaration 6y agoIt sounds to me like they're creating their own drug discount card, like GoodRX.
- apk136 6y agoPrimeRx. if you have prime and signup you get it free
- mfer 6y agoThere is a lot to wonder about here like... Should people be comfortable with Amazon tracking their drug purchases alongside all the other tracking they do of them? How will Amazon use the tracking information from drug purchases? Amazon has copied many patented products to sell under their own brand. Would they do that with drugs and use the same tactics?
- SamuelAdams 6y ago> How will Amazon use the tracking information from drug purchases? Likely not at all. HIPAA comes into play here. Typically any information provided under a HIPAA context cannot be used for solicitation or marketing purposes. For non-USA amazon users, I'm sure other laws apply. Source: used to work at a big retailer and had to remind managers of this frequently when they wanted to "integrate data from all these systems".
- mfer 6y agoAmazon has a history of taking patented designs, copying them, selling them for less with better visibility, and threatening patent holders. This is an element that speaks to the character of the organization. So, that makes me wonder... > Typically any information provided under a HIPAA context cannot be used for solicitation or marketing purposes. I wonder if they could put in their terms & conditions that you give them permission to do it.
- pkaye 6y ago> Amazon has a history of taking patented designs, copying them, selling them for less with better visibility, and threatening patent holders Can you provide an example?
- kodah 6y agoThis is common knowledge: https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-tech-startup-echo-bezos-alexa-investment-fund-11595520249 https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-tech-startup-echo-bezos-... When I worked in startups this was long rumored with little proof. After years it's become quite clear what's happened. Amazon Show is a knockoff of a Nucleus (https://www.vox.com/2017/5/10/15602814/amazon-invested-startup-nucleus-cloned-alexa-echo-show-voice-control-touchscreen-video https://www.vox.com/2017/5/10/15602814/amazon-invested-start...) Amazon Echo https://gizmodo.com/did-amazon-rip-off-the-echo-show-from-a-startup-it-inve-1795086198 https://gizmodo.com/did-amazon-rip-off-the-echo-show-from-a-... This trend goes on
- pppp 6y agoI tried to go to their site to look up a drug that my spouse takes - you can't look up prices without signing up and you have to give them your phone number...NOPE!
- asim 6y agoI'm waiting for the moment when they say Amazon launches on another planet. They seem to be doing everything. It's only time before they cover quite literally every product and service on the earth. At which point there's nothing to conquer except space.
- mabbo 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Origin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Origin
- modeless 6y agoThere's also Project Kuiper which is going to be actual Amazon owned satellites: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-receives-fcc-approval-for-project-kuiper-satellite-constellation https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-receive...
- akadruid1 6y agoThis is the back story of the film Wall-E: https://pixar.fandom.com/wiki/Buy_n_Large https://pixar.fandom.com/wiki/Buy_n_Large
- rdtwo 6y agoDo they mix bins on medicine too?
- ganoushoreilly 6y agoLet's hope not. I bet they're flush with Generics though.
- TheAdamist 6y agoSterile medical supplies listed as "new" that I have ordered were delivered open box & repackaged instead, so it wouldn't surprise me to see that with medication too.
- throwaway201103 6y agoThat's my question, and no way in hell I'm buying meds or supplements on Amazon. Nothing that goes in my body. They blew their trustworthiness on that a long, long time ago.
- petra 6y agoThe bin mixing issue is the result of Amazon's marketplace. Afaik, Amazon Pharmacy doesn't work in a marketplace model.
- BooneJS 6y agoGiven the issue with counterfeit material in their warehouses, I don’t even know what they could do to make me trust their control of the drug supply chain.
- fweespeech 6y agoYeah, I'd rather use a real pharmacy to mail my pills. They have online ordering at several.
- babypuncher 6y agoThe counterfeit merchandise is a problem caused by Amazon having third party sellers ship their inventory to Amazon warehouses for faster delivery to customers. Unless something has gone horribly wrong, I doubt Amazon Pharmacy is looking to be a "marketplace" with third party sellers like that.
- bduerst 6y agoYeah, if Amazon is doing this right, they're basically channeling the big three pharma wholesalers (AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, McKesson) and no one else.
- throwaway201103 6y agoThat may all be true, but for me the trust is long gone. That's the price they pay for not taking the counterfeiting problem seriously. They've literally demonstrated that they prioritize sales and shipping efficiency over honesty.
- penthi 6y agoTruepill.com has api's for pharmacy fulfillment (including pharmacy transfers) https://docs.truepill.com/#introduction https://docs.truepill.com/#introduction [disclosure : I work there]
- randompwd 6y agowhat's that got to do with the article? pointless.
- RobRivera 6y agoIt seems like an alternative solution to the problem the amzn product aims to solve for the consumer. I think it isn't pointless.
- sithlord 6y agoThis sounds interesting; Would be interested in knowing more about what you all do, and if you all hire remote :D
- penthi 6y agoWe do : https://jobs.lever.co/truepill?team=Engineering https://jobs.lever.co/truepill?team=Engineering
- atlas_shrugged 6y agoJust curious what are the state limitations preventing launch in Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana and Minnesota
- kodah 6y agoThis is absurd. At what point do normal people start calling this a monopoly?
- MikeKusold 6y agoHow is this a monopoly? Walmart is a competitor and they also have a pharmacy.
- kodah 6y agoHell, let's make a list of what Amazon's business interests are: - Colocation and managed data center services - Managed technology services - Ecommerce (in just about every category including food) - Satellites - Space flight (Blue Origin) - IOT Devices - Government services (managed infrastructure etc) - Home internet (Kuiper Systems) - Autonomous vehicles - Investing - Pharmacy services I'm just going to stop here.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoThe above situation does not fit the definition of monopoly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly > A monopoly (from Greek μόνος, mónos, 'single, alone' and πωλεῖν, pōleîn, 'to sell') exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity. This contrasts with a monopsony which relates to a single entity's control of a market to purchase a good or service, and with oligopoly and duopoly which consists of a few sellers dominating a market.[1] Monopolies are thus characterized by a lack of economic competition to produce the good or service, a lack of viable substitute goods, and the possibility of a high monopoly price well above the seller's marginal cost that leads to a high monopoly profit.[2] For example, almost everyone can get their medication at Costco, Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens.
- kodah 6y agoI know what the legal and colloquial definitions of a monopoly are. It obviously needs to change. I cannot fathom how one company with all these varied interests and capabilities are somehow "good for consumers", which is exactly the spirit of anti-trust law. At one point in American history we were far too loose and reckless with what a monopoly was defined as. Now, nothing is a monopoly. I can't imagine how this is much better.
- RemoteComm 6y agoturn existing small pharmacies into associate stores and then use them as a distributed fulfilment centre..
- bergstromm466 6y agoGot Pills?™ Yay, Venture Capital x the Pharmaceutical industrial complex. What could go wrong?
- theplague42 6y agoThis has been coming since 2018. Is there no end to Amazon's dominance? I seriously worry that it's becoming a real threat to democracy.
- bergstromm466 6y ago> Is there no end to Amazon's dominance? Check out the Boots Riley directed movie Sorry To Bother You [1], they have a big company in that movie, called WorryFree, that is similar to Amazon where they offer lifetime labour contracts, it’s a very promising future! /sarcasm [1] https://youtube.com/watch?v=XthLQZWIshQ https://youtube.com/watch?v=XthLQZWIshQ
- amelius 6y agoAmazon is becoming a public utility.
- kgin 6y agoWhere is the line for a public utility?
- pb7 6y agoCan you list some ways it is a real threat to democracy?
- Nasrudith 6y agoThreat to democracy and monopoly have been so bastardized by propaganda that they essentially colloquially mean "I don't like their speech/influence and want them to be illegal." and "They are big and I don't like them and think they shouldn't be allowed to exist!" respectively. They are soft eliminationism essentially.
- bird_monster 6y agoKind of astounded at the responses in this thread insisting on believing Amazon wouldn't do anything nasty or obviously illegal with an individual's healthcare data. They've done nasty and obviously illegal things with all of the other data that passes through their systems, and yet here we are defending and getting excited about them further intruding into our lives.
- Nasrudith 6y agoHIPAA fines are large and per violation, and downright strict - "reasonable cause" is a category of violation. And what do you mean by "obviously illegal"? What is "obvious" or "common sense" about the law can be very wrong with a little research. Cocaine is obviously illegal! Except for the fact it is Schedule 2 and has niche legitimate medical uses and is important enough emergency rooms keep it on hand.
- kgin 6y agoIt's not about trusting Amazon except to trust the company wants to stay in business and not commit regulatory suicide right out of the gate
- bird_monster 6y agoSince when is Amazon interested in following outside regulation?
- kgin 6y agoWhat laws do they break?
- astura 6y agohttps://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/10/09/california-osha-fines-amazon-for-coronavirus-safety-violations.html https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/10/09/california-osha-fines-am... https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN25Y1C6 https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN25Y1C6 https://www.newsweek.com/amazon-fined-us-government-selling-products-cuba-venezuela-1516800 https://www.newsweek.com/amazon-fined-us-government-selling-... https://www.businessinsurance.com/article/00010101/STORY/912330459/Amazon-fined-more-than-$4-million https://www.businessinsurance.com/article/00010101/STORY/912... https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/amazon-dangerous-products https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/amazon-dangero... https://www.insider.com/amazon-selling-toxic-toys-lead-poisoning-2019-8 https://www.insider.com/amazon-selling-toxic-toys-lead-poiso... https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/amazon-hazmat-faa-ups-fedex/428235/ https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/amazon-hazmat-faa-ups-f... https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36528153 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36528153
- harrylepotter 6y agoAmazon has more fingers in pies than a leper in a bakery.
- chaostheory 6y agoAre they going to commingle inventory on medicine too or do they already do this with OTC meds?
- sithlord 6y agounsure how they would with cold stuff, and laws about pain meds and such
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- seneca 6y agoThis strikes me as a tone deaf move for Amazon. They're increasingly losing consumer confidence and are starting, anecdotally at least, to be regarded as closer to a flea market or eBay than a trustworthy retailer. They really need to shore up the issues with tainted supplies in their core retail business before I would ever consider them for something as sensitive as pharmaceuticals, regardless of how much they promise its handled differently.
- kgin 6y agoI don't think this is a common perception outside of super a super plugged-in crowd that reads tech news.
- seneca 6y agoI'm not sure that's true. In 2019 there were many articles in mainstream news outlets about Amazon's counterfeit problem, including a major (front page, I believe?) article from the Wall Street Journal [0]. They also received major negative publicity about the "Solar Eclipse Glasses" they sold that damages many people's eyes in 2017 [1]. I think it has cooled as a news topic, given the plethora of topics in 2020, but (again, anecdotally) I don't think the opinion has restored. At least it hasn't in my social and family groups. 0: https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-has-ceded-control-of-its-site-the-result-thousands-of-banned-unsafe-or-mislabeled-products-11566564990 https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-has-ceded-control-of-its... 1: https://fortune.com/2017/08/14/amazon-refund-solar-eclipse-glasses/ https://fortune.com/2017/08/14/amazon-refund-solar-eclipse-g...
- garmaine 6y agoAny way to look up costs for a specific drug?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- drclau 6y agoThis reminds me of RX Limited, and Paul Le Roux. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux
- nazgulsenpai 6y agoNow, that was a fascinating read! Can't believe I've never heard of this guy. The most interesting part to me: "...Le Roux decided to diversify and expand into illegal activities around 2007..." I guess I've never really thought about how people end up in these criminal enterprises, but I certainly didn't think they just decide to one day. Thanks for sharing that!
- TylerE 6y agoSo, I signed up, but there doesn't seem to be any way to check pricing without actually transferring a perscription?
- pstuart 6y agoPro-tip: Costco drug pricing without insurance is very affordable and you don't have to be a member.
- xyst 6y agoSaving a few bucks on prescriptions is not worth selling my data to Amazon.
- smabie 6y agoI guess it depends on how many bucks you have
- codernyc16 6y agoAnd how many you save
- liminal 6y agoI wonder if Amazon will have sufficient buying clout to get better medication prices that they can pass along to consumers. That's been a huge benefit of centralized universal healthcare buying in other countries.