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Amazon philosophy of growth and medical care are totally incompatible. This is one of the reasons that capital profits should be taxes way higher. Letting one

Amazon philosophy of growth and medical care are totally incompatible. This is one of the reasons that capital profits should be taxes way higher. Letting one company accumulate such power in such a short period of time makes society unstable. I hope the best to the American citizens that will suffer thru this situation.

theGnuMe 4y ago
I think Amazon is tired of paying a small fortune in healthcare costs which have to be renegotiated every few years and administered by some moronic organization like Cigna. Maybe they can do better? Fee for service is kind of insane. Urgent care strep throat $250 + meds makes no sense. It should be $50 total or less.
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  One Medical doesn't replace health insurance; you still need coverage for ER, hospitalization, prescriptions, etc. You won't get a discount on all that for having a One Medical subscription, either.
- bbarn 4y ago
  I spent a good portion of my career in the insurance space, and got to the point I just won't work in that industry anymore. Not only because I think benefits coordination companies like you mention are awful, but also because of the sheer amount of bloat I've seen in that industry. Most major cities have literal towers of offices just filled with insurance workers, many of whom do almost nothing for their salary. I personally know one developer at a large one that hasn't talked to his manager in months, and hasn't done any coding at work for almost as long because he has no tasks to complete, and was told "we're waiting on this project to be approved". He collects a paycheck and doesn't even go into the office. He is one of ten on his team. I think Insurance and banking may be the last of the big corporations you can still get lost in. So yeah, maybe Amazon can do better at least on the administration side.
- htag 4y ago
  In what world should strep throat cost less than $50. 1. You interact with a receptionist. They use commercial software to track your visit, find an appropriate medical professional for your condition, and fit you into a schedule/queue. 2. You see a medical professional, often a nurse, that checks your vitals and updates your chart. This professional will often take a swab of the infected area. 3. The swab is sent to a lab, where medical grade equipment and a trained technician analysis the sample. 4. You see a medical professional with the prescription pad. Usually an MD or NP. They are responsible for the diagnosis. Strep infection could be a symptom of a larger problem. People without a bacterial infection need to be treated, but shouldn't be given antibiotics. This professional needs to carefully listen to the patient and clearly explain their condition, and what to expect from treatment. 5. You see clerk at checkout. Your entire bill is reviewed by your insurance company. 6. You see a pharmacy tech, a pharmacist oversees your prescription being filled, a medical grade product is provided. Lots of liability at this step. Lots of security and shrinkage concerns for the business. Keep in mind that throughout this entire process staff is held to higher education, background, and training standards than the general population, all software is built for HIPPA and costs more than standard enterprise software, all equipment is built to a very high standard, all offices are more sanitary than average businesses, and many of the trades are seeing long term labor shortages. Throughout the process you'll probably take an hour of professional time.
  - theGnuMe 4y ago
    One easy way: you can telehealth for say $50 and do a rapid strep test which is like a covid test and does not require a lab to process it. Then you get the meds from a pharmacy sure. If your rapid strep is negative then it's probably viral. 99% of the time the urgent care says go see your primary care physician in a few days if symptoms don't improve with over the counter meds.
    - htag 4y ago
      A rapid covid test is ~$10. Penicillin is ~$10. That leaves $30 for the telehealth. That's doable. The thing I don't like about this approach is that I'm not sure how it works on the margins. A rapid covid test has a lower accuracy than a strep swap processed in a lab. What do the people with very sick throats but not strep do? How does it catch people that have a more fundamental health issue? Are there common pitfalls that the system might snag on, like individuals not carefully reading dialog boxes and quickly incorrectly clicking that they do not have a antibiotic allergy. I'm privileged, but my personal bias is to pay more for higher quality health care instead of paying less for lower quality healthcare.
Workaccount2 4y ago
I am more surprised that people aren't calling for breaking up Amazon.
- SQueeeeeL 4y ago
  There are quite a number, but our primary mechanism for sharing ideas and information are incredibly pro-conglomerate (most large media organizations are the result of decades of mergers). Those in power heavily studied the anti-trust actions of the early 1900s and worked to prevent them from happening again and threatening their bottom line. Quite ingenious if you ask me, that's why you see dozens of people in this very thread touting why a mega corp buying a medical provider is actually a good thing.
- ch4s3 4y ago
  Why would anyone? They aren't the biggest player in eCommerce, cloud computing, grocery, or warehousing. As a customer I'm usually quite happy with the service they provide. I recently bought some heavy items from them that would have cost more than $300 in shipping from the manufacturer, but Amazon delivered the items for free as I am a prime member. Whole Foods has been a fantastic value since Amazon took over and high quality produce is much cheaper than it was prior. I'm not here to say Bezos walks on water, but as far as big companies go, Amazon is probably the best to interact with as a customer.
rr888 4y ago
I dont like Amazon much but healthcare is an industry that desperately needs some smart new players bringing some new ideas.
- JohnFen 4y ago
  I agree that the healthcare industry desperately needs change. I very strongly disagree that Amazon will accomplish more good change than bad.

theGnuMe 4y ago

I think Amazon is tired of paying a small fortune in healthcare costs which have to be renegotiated every few years and administered by some moronic organization like Cigna. Maybe they can do better? Fee for service is kind of insane. Urgent care strep throat $250 + meds makes no sense. It should be $50 total or less.

ceejayoz 4y ago
One Medical doesn't replace health insurance; you still need coverage for ER, hospitalization, prescriptions, etc. You won't get a discount on all that for having a One Medical subscription, either.
bbarn 4y ago
I spent a good portion of my career in the insurance space, and got to the point I just won't work in that industry anymore. Not only because I think benefits coordination companies like you mention are awful, but also because of the sheer amount of bloat I've seen in that industry. Most major cities have literal towers of offices just filled with insurance workers, many of whom do almost nothing for their salary. I personally know one developer at a large one that hasn't talked to his manager in months, and hasn't done any coding at work for almost as long because he has no tasks to complete, and was told "we're waiting on this project to be approved". He collects a paycheck and doesn't even go into the office. He is one of ten on his team. I think Insurance and banking may be the last of the big corporations you can still get lost in. So yeah, maybe Amazon can do better at least on the administration side.
htag 4y ago
In what world should strep throat cost less than $50. 1. You interact with a receptionist. They use commercial software to track your visit, find an appropriate medical professional for your condition, and fit you into a schedule/queue. 2. You see a medical professional, often a nurse, that checks your vitals and updates your chart. This professional will often take a swab of the infected area. 3. The swab is sent to a lab, where medical grade equipment and a trained technician analysis the sample. 4. You see a medical professional with the prescription pad. Usually an MD or NP. They are responsible for the diagnosis. Strep infection could be a symptom of a larger problem. People without a bacterial infection need to be treated, but shouldn't be given antibiotics. This professional needs to carefully listen to the patient and clearly explain their condition, and what to expect from treatment. 5. You see clerk at checkout. Your entire bill is reviewed by your insurance company. 6. You see a pharmacy tech, a pharmacist oversees your prescription being filled, a medical grade product is provided. Lots of liability at this step. Lots of security and shrinkage concerns for the business. Keep in mind that throughout this entire process staff is held to higher education, background, and training standards than the general population, all software is built for HIPPA and costs more than standard enterprise software, all equipment is built to a very high standard, all offices are more sanitary than average businesses, and many of the trades are seeing long term labor shortages. Throughout the process you'll probably take an hour of professional time.
- theGnuMe 4y ago
  One easy way: you can telehealth for say $50 and do a rapid strep test which is like a covid test and does not require a lab to process it. Then you get the meds from a pharmacy sure. If your rapid strep is negative then it's probably viral. 99% of the time the urgent care says go see your primary care physician in a few days if symptoms don't improve with over the counter meds.
  - htag 4y ago
    A rapid covid test is ~$10. Penicillin is ~$10. That leaves $30 for the telehealth. That's doable. The thing I don't like about this approach is that I'm not sure how it works on the margins. A rapid covid test has a lower accuracy than a strep swap processed in a lab. What do the people with very sick throats but not strep do? How does it catch people that have a more fundamental health issue? Are there common pitfalls that the system might snag on, like individuals not carefully reading dialog boxes and quickly incorrectly clicking that they do not have a antibiotic allergy. I'm privileged, but my personal bias is to pay more for higher quality health care instead of paying less for lower quality healthcare.

Workaccount2 4y ago

I am more surprised that people aren't calling for breaking up Amazon.

SQueeeeeL 4y ago
There are quite a number, but our primary mechanism for sharing ideas and information are incredibly pro-conglomerate (most large media organizations are the result of decades of mergers). Those in power heavily studied the anti-trust actions of the early 1900s and worked to prevent them from happening again and threatening their bottom line. Quite ingenious if you ask me, that's why you see dozens of people in this very thread touting why a mega corp buying a medical provider is actually a good thing.
ch4s3 4y ago
Why would anyone? They aren't the biggest player in eCommerce, cloud computing, grocery, or warehousing. As a customer I'm usually quite happy with the service they provide. I recently bought some heavy items from them that would have cost more than $300 in shipping from the manufacturer, but Amazon delivered the items for free as I am a prime member. Whole Foods has been a fantastic value since Amazon took over and high quality produce is much cheaper than it was prior. I'm not here to say Bezos walks on water, but as far as big companies go, Amazon is probably the best to interact with as a customer.

rr888 4y ago

I dont like Amazon much but healthcare is an industry that desperately needs some smart new players bringing some new ideas.

JohnFen 4y ago
I agree that the healthcare industry desperately needs change. I very strongly disagree that Amazon will accomplish more good change than bad.