Amazon offers 24/7 virtual healthcare to Prime Members at a lower cost

Amazon’s journey from online book seller to “everything store” to industry-bestriding conglomerate just hit another milestone.

One Medical, the company’s virtual primary care service, is now available to Amazon Prime members at the lower cost of $9 per month or $99 annually, compared to the current fee of double that amount for nonmembers. The service comes with 24/7 access to video chats with licensed providers and in-app features such as “Treat Me Now,” which provides guidance around common ailments such as colds, allergies, and infections.

The beefed-up membership benefit is Amazon’s latest effort to become a major player in healthcare—a multiyear effort that has seen plenty of setbacks along the way.

Amazon first made the leap in 2019 with the launch of Amazon Care, a virtual care platform for its employees that it began offering to other employers in 2021, but it pulled the plug in August 2022 after deciding it wasn’t developed enough to appeal to large enterprise clients.

• The company’s healthcare play wasn’t finished, though. Six months later, it completed a buyout of primary care provider One Medical for $3.9 billion.
• This year, it expanded the service to include 24/7 telemedicine visits and launched RxPass, a monthly pharmaceutical subscription, for Prime Members.

Retailer to healthcare pipeline: In the meantime, rival Walmart has also made strides to become a major healthcare provider. The retail giant launched Walmart Health in 2019 and quickly started opening brick-and-mortar clinics across the country, with the goal of becoming

“America’s Neighborhood Health Destination.” Earlier this year, it announced it would double its clinic count, with “plans to add 28 new locations in 2024 alone,” according to Forbes.

• More recently, Bloomberg reported that Walmart was in discussions to buy a majority stake in senior health provider ChenMed.
• The company also launched an exclusive insulin medicine in 2021, as part of a push to improve healthcare affordability for diabetes patients

The two companies are part of a larger retailer-to-healthcare provider pipeline that has expanded in recent years. Pharmacy chains like Walgreens and CVS have also invested heavily in becoming primary care providers.