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Amazon Health-Care Move May Be Next 'Home Run' Like Cloud Services
Amazon.com Inc.'s foray into health care won't be the first time it has disrupted an entire industry by starting with an effort inside the company.
Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos is teaming up with fellow billionaires Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon to revamp health care for the 2.4 million workers and dependents of the companies they run. The move fostered widespread speculation the trio will eventually make their approach to medical care available to companies far and wide.
Bezos has a long, increasingly successful, record of starting new businesses on a small scale, often for the benefit of his company, then spreading them to the masses -- creating a world of pain for incumbents. Consider the ways Amazon is changing industries as varied as product fulfillment, cloud computing and even the sale of cereals, fruits and vegetables.
This is just a cheap excuse to follow up on the machinations of the world's richest human:
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase to Offer Their Own Health Care to U.S. Employees
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Thursday February 01 2018, @01:45PM (4 children)
it is impossible to have a free market for a product, that if not delivered, can have your pain or mortality used against you.
It is no accident, I have never met a poor physician in *any* country....
(Score: 3, Touché) by Justin Case on Thursday February 01 2018, @02:17PM (3 children)
You mean like food?
(Score: 2) by julian on Thursday February 01 2018, @04:47PM (1 child)
You think food is a free market? Ever heard of farm subsidies? Food stamps? Not to mention the fact that we've essentially reached post-scarcity with food; most people are threatened by an overabundance of calories rather than a lack of them.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Justin Case on Thursday February 01 2018, @05:07PM
Well I'm not an advocate of government interference in the food market, like what you describe, but then government gets its tentacles into everything so really there aren't any free markets in anything.
But I was pointing out that it is possible to buy food at less than your-money-or-your-life prices because:
* You are the one paying the cost, so you are motivated to shop around. This keeps prices down.
* You are the one making the choice, fully informed of the price at the time you choose.
* You have a choice of "food care providers". Not a one-size-fits-all heavily-regulated choice-eliminating "food insurance plan".
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Saturday February 03 2018, @03:43PM
food occurs naturally in this world and humans can feed themselves - usually.
Healthcare, not so much....