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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 goodie on Friday March 09 2018, @03:45PM
Well, that's been my experience as well. I'm pretty sure that their argument is "fuck you, get Prime or wait like back in 1995". Personally, I don't care, if I really need something, I go to a store. And in 99.99% of the cases, I don't need it that bad, that soon. My wife signed up for Prime and loves it but I haven't yet. I still order from my account and she always wonders how I can live without Prime :D. The one advantage for the target population is that they can have stuff without a minimum purchase amount to be eligible for free shipping. If you really want to be nice, just give those people free shipping without Prime, that'll be a real nice move.
I like having the choice of going somewhere else. One day, when all we have left is Amazon, people will be like "WTF, Amazon are a mean company that takes advantage of its monopoly!". But the thing is that if that ever happens, it will be because we will have handed them the keys. Short-term, pure price-driven decisions are not usually a good thing for the long term. This is a moot point for those who cannot afford to pay more, but for those who can, I think it's worth considering.
On the other hand, I don't like getting shafted when I go to a store. So sometimes, I do buy from Amazon because it is literally 50% cheaper. Thankfully, Amazon now behaves more like a regular store: sometimes you'll see that some items are actually a lot more expensive on Amazon than in the store so that helps too :). They just count on the fact that you buy one cheaper you won't mind one for a lot more.