As one of us (David Blumenthal) argued in a previous article, primary care is difficult to sustain financially because of the low payment rates it commands from third-party payers. Amazon’s first task is to make its new primary care venture successful. Regarding the One Medical deal, let’s start with the basics. Even Amazon has learned this the hard way in its failed Haven partnership with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase and, to date, the lack of market share or disruption by Amazon Pharmacy. But we also shouldn’t underestimate the challenges it faces in working its usual magic in America’s huge, troubled, tangled health care sector. It’s also shown a willingness to incur short-term losses to realize a profitable long-term vision. And we know that Amazon has deep pockets, talent, breathtaking IT skills, and a proven ability to turn economic sectors upside down. The American public is awash in personal medical debt, and even the best connected struggle to find a primary care physician.Ĭould Amazon’s $3.9 billion acquisition be the breakthrough that will change all this? After all, the deal seems to demonstrate Amazon’s full commitment to becoming a player in delivering health care services. The United States spends twice as much as any other high income country on health services while its maternal mortality, infant mortality, preventable mortality, overdose deaths, levels of chronic illness, levels of obesity, and deaths from Covid-19 put it at the bottom of the pack in the developed world. health care system is an international embarrassment. On the other hand, the day-to-day performance of the U.S. On the one hand, we hear almost daily about flashy new ventures like, most recently, Amazon’s recent purchase of One Medical, a large provider of primary care, that promise transformative improvements in health care efficiency, quality, and service. America’s health care system seems, paradoxically, both endlessly innovative and profoundly dysfunctional.
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