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Amazon launches a low-cost version of Prime for Medicaid recipients
Amazon announced this morning it will offer a low-cost version of its Prime membership program to qualifying recipients of Medicaid. The program will bring the cost of Prime down from the usual $10.99 per month to about half that, at $5.99 per month, while still offering the full range of Prime perks, including free, two-day shipping on millions of products, Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Photos, Prime Reading, Prime Now, Audible Channels, and more.
The new program is an expansion on Amazon's discounted Prime service for customers on government assistance, launched in June 2017. For the same price of $5.99 per month, Amazon offers Prime memberships to any U.S. customer with a valid EBT card – the card that's used to disburse funds for assistance programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program (WIC).
It could be a way to get users with certain health care requirements on board before Amazon launches its own health insurance company.
Also at USA Today.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday March 09 2018, @03:30PM
I admit I've noticed the std deviation creep up over the years, in the old days, "two day shipping" meant "two days" but now it seems to mean "sometimes free same day if over $25, sometimes next week, but it averages out to two days".
To some extent it doesn't matter, if I need it right now, like we're out of toilet paper, then I can't Amazon, but if I merely need it soon, then a few days here, a few days there, it doesn't matter.
What they have not waffled and redefined yet is it remains true its like an insurance policy that you'll never pay UPS or whomever more than $X per year, ever. I'd drop it like a hot potatoe if they started randomly charging for prime or for shipping based on their dice rolling.