Amazon to crash Pharmacies in the US with no survivors (Opening online shop)

[Iron]

Amazon opens online pharmacy, shaking up another industry

NEW YORK (AP) — Now at Amazon.com: insulin and inhalers. The retail colossus opened an online pharmacy Tuesday that allows customers to order medication or prescription refills, and have them delivered to their front door in a couple of days.

apnews.com

Amazon launches online pharmacy in challenge to traditional retailers

Shares in Walgreens and CVS hit as ecommerce giant offers huge discounts on prescription drugs

www.ft.com

Amazon opens online pharmacy with prescription delivery

Prime members get free two-day shipping on orders from Amazon Pharmacy, which accepts most insurance plans.

www.cbsnews.com

"
Shares of drugstore chains sank in pre-market trading, with CVS dropping about 9% and Walgreens slumping 12%. Amazon shares rose 2.6%.
"

"
Most insurance is accepted, Amazon said. But Prime members who don't have insurance can also buy generic or brand name drugs from Amazon for a discount, which the company said will be up to 80% off for generic medications and up to 40% off brand-name medications.
"

RIP CVS and Wallgreens. Welcome to the new normal!

How can Amazon demolish another industry? With more money!

 

[Agema]

How can Amazon demolish another industry? With more money!

Uh-huh.

I hope Amazon can also do instant delivery, because one of the handy things I find out about pharmacies is that (in cities at least) there's guaranteed to be a 24h pharmacy if you need something immediately, at any time.

Alternatively, I would be perfectly happy for Amazon to be forcibly broken up. In the UK, I'd just like them to be forced to pay a reasonable amount of tax, seeing as they are cheating the hell out of us.

* * *

We had some online pharmacies open in the UK. Within a year or two, it turned out one at least had a very suspiciously high rate of dispensing opioids and benzodiazepines. So they checked, and found it was merrily processing a ton of fraudulent prescriptions. The owner duly came along and said "blah blah blah we're very shocked we can't imagine why this would happen but we'll institute more checks blah blah blah."

I cannot for the fucking life of me credit that someone could start an online pharmacy and not very strictly check out prescriptions for addictive drugs of abuse. Who'd have ever predicted people might try to cheat on them? Frankly, at worst, I think they deliberately didn't look that hard, because they were happier to make the money.

 

[Trunkage]

Uh-huh.

I hope Amazon can also do instant delivery, because one of the handy things I find out about pharmacies is that (in cities at least) there's guaranteed to be a 24h pharmacy if you need something immediately, at any time.

Alternatively, I would be perfectly happy for Amazon to be forcibly broken up. In the UK, I'd just like them to be forced to pay a reasonable amount of tax, seeing as they are cheating the hell out of us.

Why would they pay tax in the UK when they get US subsidies and tax breaks?

 

[Trunkage]

Amazon opens online pharmacy, shaking up another industry

NEW YORK (AP) — Now at Amazon.com: insulin and inhalers. The retail colossus opened an online pharmacy Tuesday that allows customers to order medication or prescription refills, and have them delivered to their front door in a couple of days.

apnews.com

Amazon launches online pharmacy in challenge to traditional retailers

Shares in Walgreens and CVS hit as ecommerce giant offers huge discounts on prescription drugs

www.ft.com

Amazon opens online pharmacy with prescription delivery

Prime members get free two-day shipping on orders from Amazon Pharmacy, which accepts most insurance plans.

www.cbsnews.com

"
Shares of drugstore chains sank in pre-market trading, with CVS dropping about 9% and Walgreens slumping 12%. Amazon shares rose 2.6%.
"

"
Most insurance is accepted, Amazon said. But Prime members who don't have insurance can also buy generic or brand name drugs from Amazon for a discount, which the company said will be up to 80% off for generic medications and up to 40% off brand-name medications.
"

RIP CVS and Wallgreens. Welcome to the new normal!

How can Amazon demolish another industry? With more money!

Amazon hasn’t been stopped before doing the exact same thing, particularly targeting small businesses. I can’t impinge anyone stopping them now

 

[Shadyside]

Might as well just give everything over to amazon while muricans get 1000 dollars a month from them.

 

[Tireseas]

To the surprise of, well, nobody who was paying attention to the industry. When CVS and Aetna merged last year, there was actually quite a bit of discussion about how it was a way of trying to survive a potential entrance into the market by Amazon.

Either way, I'm skeptical it would have a much larger impact than was already a trend in the industry to shift to by-mail pharmacies (I have to use one for my PrEP medication while still getting the rest at my grocery store). Grocery pharmacies are likely to be the least affected simply because they're still going to be faster and most convenient overall and while companies like CVS and Walgreens/Rite Aid remain large chains, they have additional retail to fall back on. Amazon's entrance into the grocery market had almost no impact and even in the Seattle area, Amazon fresh is quite small compared to Safeway and Fred Meyer's drive-up and delivery options.

 

[Gergar12]

Do it to hospitals, insurance, and drug companies too.

 

[Mister Mumbler]

Do it to hospitals, insurance, and drug companies too.

I don't know what would be worse: our current healthcare system or one run by Amazon.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I don't know what would be worse: our current healthcare system or one run by Amazon.

"Would you like to subscribe to Amazon Prime for immediate transport to a hospital?"

 

[crimson5pheonix]

"Would you like to subscribe to Amazon Prime for immediate transport to a hospital?"

Free* delivery to the Prime(tm) hospital of your choice.

 

[Kwak]

Cheaper health products, good.
Causing the collapse of competing employers and becoming a generic monopoly, bad.
Why is there no middle ground?
Can't amazon just want to have SOME of the money, not all of it?

 

[Gordon_4]

I don't see a big deal here. Brick and mortar pharmacies with actual pharmacists will still be required to hand out anything that qualifies as a controlled substance: so that is at the very least all the opiate based drugs, anything with ephedrine and a whole host of other shit. Unless medication in the US is that fucking deregulated of course.

 

[dreng3]

The U.S. really needs to get rid of the "for profit" aspect of (non-cosmetic)pharma and healthcare.

 

[Trunkage]

Free* delivery to the Prime(tm) hospital of your choice.

Can you get bits and subs by being extra on the way? Because it's definitely going to be all on camera for everyone to watxh

 

[tippy2k2]

The U.S. really needs to get rid of the "for profit" aspect of (non-cosmetic)pharma and healthcare.

Don't you see!?! The FrEe MaRkEt can run health care, which will force everyone to compete with each other, forcing prices to go down as everyone tries to undercut everyone else!

That's why The United States has the cheapest health care in the world and no one has to skip lunch every day in order to afford their meds or go bankrupt after a hospital visit! All this competition!!!

 

[stroopwafel]

I cannot for the fucking life of me credit that someone could start an online pharmacy and not very strictly check out prescriptions for addictive drugs of abuse. Who'd have ever predicted people might try to cheat on them? Frankly, at worst, I think they deliberately didn't look that hard, because they were happier to make the money.

What better audience for Amazon Prime then medicated zombies who don't have to leave their chair, like, ever again?

 

[dreng3]

Don't you see!?! The FrEe MaRkEt can run health care, which will force everyone to compete with each other, forcing prices to go down as everyone tries to undercut everyone else!

That's why The United States has the cheapest health care in the world and no one has to skip lunch every day in order to afford their meds or go bankrupt after a hospital visit! All this competition!!!

Letting the goddamn fox guard the henhouse. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why nobody looks thought that someone having to turn a profit by providing products necessary for continued life was a good idea.
It seems like such an obvious conflict of interest. But no, free market it is and to hell with the people.

Every CEO and politician should be forced to attend several ethics courses.

 

[Iron]

To the surprise of, well, nobody who was paying attention to the industry. When CVS and Aetna merged last year, there was actually quite a bit of discussion about how it was a way of trying to survive a potential entrance into the market by Amazon.

Either way, I'm skeptical it would have a much larger impact than was already a trend in the industry to shift to by-mail pharmacies (I have to use one for my PrEP medication while still getting the rest at my grocery store). Grocery pharmacies are likely to be the least affected simply because they're still going to be faster and most convenient overall and while companies like CVS and Walgreens/Rite Aid remain large chains, they have additional retail to fall back on. Amazon's entrance into the grocery market had almost no impact and even in the Seattle area, Amazon fresh is quite small compared to Safeway and Fred Meyer's drive-up and delivery options.

In both examples (grocery food delivery) and this, it seems like Amazon bought a small competitor and hooked it up to amazon logistics. I suspect the policy here is to break the competition with pricing and then buy them pennies on the dollar, like Rockefeller a century ago.

 

[Gergar12]

I don't know what would be worse: our current healthcare system or one run by Amazon.

It buys us more time for medicare for all. I would prefer a regular health system < Amazon health system < Public Option < Medicare for all lite(between public option, and Medicare for all, basically all the healthcare system in most countries that aren't public options) < Medicare for All < National Health Care System( Ex. UK)

 

[Mister Mumbler]

It buys us more time for medicare for all.

Okay, but do you think that if Amazon comes into the market and is able to start making profits that they would allow it? The battle for medicare for all is already hard enough with all of the current companies having dug in for a while now, last thing we need is Bozos in the house.