Health Care System in America as everyone knows is a bit of a mess.
We've got accessibility issues, we've got cost issues that's for sure.
So, Amazon says they're here to save the day.
Isn't that wonderful.
What they're gonna do is they're looking to buy one medical or
acquiring one medical that's a chain of primary care clinics and
they have some characteristics that are appealing to Amazon.
Let's go to some of those details about first what amazon wants to do.
They're reinventing the system.
So healthcare has been tantalizing to Amazon executives who believe it's
an immense market, rife with inefficiencies and generally lacking
the kind of customer focused approach that Amazon tries to take with this businesses.
Very nice.
We think healthcare is high on the list of experiences that need reinvention is what
Neil Lindsay who's the senior vice president of Amazon health services said.
Mr. Lindsey ticked off some of the annoyances of modern healthcare
booking appointments, sitting in waiting rooms, traveling to a pharmacy,
even finding a parking spot.
I think you missed a couple of those other frustrations with the health care system.
But continue on anyway.
Amazon's notion of seeing a provider could include more virtual or
online care which healthcare companies like one medical which they're acquiring.
And Kaiser Permanente are already doing so specifically to one medical here.
They're based in San Francisco and they operate a network of 188 medical offices
primarily in large cities and they provide virtual medical services that patients
access with a $199 annual membership.
And last year they spent $2.1 billion ir health which provides care for
seniors enrolled in Medicare.
That one medical sees about five is five times as many virtual visits as in person
appointments.
Most likely made it attractive to Amazon.
That's according to analysis at the investment bank Cowen.
The company also has something Amazon values deeply.
That's data.
That's the sticking point that we're talking about today because one medal
built one medical built its own electronic medical record system and
it has 15 years worth of medical and health system data.
Amazon could tap into.
Well, this is what I want medical said part of this potential, combination here.
[LAUGH] We look forward to innovating and
expanding access to quality health care services together.
That's one medical's chief executive said.
And he says he's gonna remain at his post after this deal closes,
the deal requires approval from regulators from one medical shareholders though is
before all this goes.
There's been pushback when it comes to the data part about this.
Because again, Amazon looking to acquire this company, medical health insurance
company that provides all these virtual appointments and ways that people can
access their medical care and Amazon will have some control of that with that data.
So, specifically Christa Brown,
she's a senior policy analyst at the American economic liberties project.
She tweeted out some of these concerns that some people were having.
She said this, Amazon's latest bundle offering Prime TV subscriptions,
smart home devices, groceries, your health care provider.
What could possibly go wrong as she linked that story?
Her group also follow up with this more direct statement though.
The American economic liberties project urged regulators to block what it
described as Amazon's dangerous acquisition of one medical.
Allowing amazon to control the healthcare data for
another 700,000 plus individuals is terrifying.
Is what Brown said in their statement, also put into the deal's impact on other
health care companies, acquiring one medical will entrench amazon's growing
presence in the healthcare industry undermining competition.
One other group you guys before we get into this conversation on this,
Elizabeth shove off,
who was an attorney of the consulting firm can tells group, she said this.
Amazon will now have access to data on what we read,
watch eat by ask Alexa pharmaceuticals and not primary care.
There's some limits on data usage but
not enough consumers need to be able to control their data.
But Amazon of course, put out a statement said listen, yes,
we've got your credit card information when you're trying to buy a new robe
set and sure, but we're not gonna mix that with our health care.
Keep it real calm down.
>> No, of course they would never do that.
Would they make more money?
They have no interest, okay?
So, I remember when Amazon was buying whole foods and I read that headline.
I thought I get it, right?
When I read this headline, I was like, what?
Medical provider?
Why, right?
And then as soon as I start reading this, so I'm like, I get it.
The data.
They need the data, okay?
And so look, I see.
I'll give you an example not related to medical issues.
So, I have friends who have their whole business is set up to sell things
online goods online, right?
And so if you're gonna do that,
you really need Amazon cuz Amazon is the giant in that industry, right?
And Amazon in the beginning lured them in like, come this way,
you're gonna sell a lot of products, a lot of products, right?
They go in and
then, as soon as the product does really well, Amazon instantly copies it and
then promotes their own product instead of yours and squeezes you out of the market.
I mean, it's classic monopoly behavior and
it is an Amazon has been cut through it from day one.
I told this amazing story to our members in the bonus episode about
how they cut the throats of the guys running diapers.com.
I know it sounds hilarious, but the story is amazing and
they undercut them totally lied to them.
It's an amazing story of Jeff.
Jeff Bezos will do anything in the business world, okay?
So, will they use your medical data to find a way to make more money off of you.
Including your very private information.
Using your very private information.
Of course, they're not in it for the hugs and the rainbows.
They're in it for the money.
Lebowski and sometimes are, or almost all the time.
Make sure media has these absurd conversations.
Will there be corporate responsibility here?
Dude, they're not people, there's no responsibility.
There's no patriots.
They always talk about, will American companies be patriotic?
It's not a person.
They know their machines built to maximize profit especially Amazon.
But I have found a silver lining.
Because they're always telling us the politician, the lying politicians and
the lying media are always telling us, your private insurance is so great.
Medicare for all.
You wouldn't want government insurance, you'd have to wait a long, long lines.
I just booked an exam for myself.
September 29th, >> [LAUGH]
>> I did it today, okay?
So what is that?
How many months from that?
It's now like two and half months from now.
That's private insurance.
So, so amazing.
Well, the one thing Amazon is good at is quick delivery.
So they might be like chemo boom, dropped it at your door, okay?
Here you go.
A day later.
>> You're fine.
[LAUGH] >> It's yeah, let's hope not.
It's a creepy story though because everything is about the consumer
experience, right?
There are so many weird quotes from Amazon about this.
They say, this is an experience that could use reinventing and
then they say they want to nail the consumer experience.
We're talking about health care, right?
Health care has been commodified.
The consumer experience here oftentimes is ensuring you keep your life.
That's creepy.
I try not to think about that too much, but in any case,
having healthcare tied to your employer is a method of corporate control.
Imagine being an Amazon employee and instead of having private health
insurance, you have a membership to amazon health services, right?
Amazon health prime.
That's super creepy.
And I think about how this will grow and change over time.
We know that Amazon really likes cutting out the middleman.
And the middleman here is private insurance and they already have kind of
a membership based structure at this one medical organization.
And so, in the same way that they cut out UPS and FedEex for their delivery and
got their own trucks, they're gonna have people just subscribe as members.
But I think this has a happy ending.
And this might be a very weird argument, but let's say,
there's huge demand for this, Amazon expands.
They take on emergency services as well.
They provide things like chemo, it's not just primary care.
We all become members.
Everyone in the United States becomes a member of Amazon healthcare services.
The one problem, is that it's still health care for profit.
But, one of the biggest arguments against universal single
payer health care is that, there's going to be a huge disruption period.
But if we all slowly become members of Amazon healthcare and
then one day we're all in it, we can just nationalize it.
And then, we have universal single payer health care in the United States.
>> I'm glad you said it.
>> [LAUGH] >> Was gonna ask you guys,
is this a good framework for something that could work, but not through Amazon,
not to them taking all these people's data.
>> Right.
>> Maybe there's a, cuz they're re-inventing it.
When I read that first, I was like, okay.
Cuz again, I approached this story and I don't know what this is gonna be,
as I read it, I wasn't going in with any kind of negative or a positive approach.
I said, let's see what they're talking about.
And I said, reinvention the health care system,
maybe Amazon has a plan that's like 75% there and we can take some elements.
Maybe there's elements within this.
>> Yeah.
>> That lead to something where if it's done correctly with the people in mind,
which who's gonna control that would actually lead us to some kind of
a resolution.
>> Yeah, some of the viewers are starting to say that Jessica is like me,
which is dangerous.
Sorry about that.
>> [LAUGH] >> But it's funny because I had the same
thought where I was like, well, Amazon is the borg, right?
They'll eventually destroy all their competition and we'll have single payer
healthcare through Amazon and then we can just nationalize it, right?
But then of course, the problem is that,
none of that is gonna happen because until you solve money in politics.
Because then Amazon which is just gonna bribe all the politicians and say no,
I'm actually doubling the cost of health care and all the politicians will go,
yes, sir, of course, sir, you are my beloved donor, sir.
I will screw over all my voters for you sir.
So, the issue with privatized healthcare insurance,
which is mental by the way, no other developed nation doesn't.
It's by definition brutal, savage.
It allows people to die for profit.
No other same country allows it.
The only reason we allow it, is because we first legalized bribery.
So you have to solve that one first before you can get any kind of single pair.
Like other decent countries have.
>> Really fast on this, because they told me how they want to acquire this cuz
they're looking to expand more and more more.
There's always the thought of corporations like this to expand, expand,
expand, expand.
They don't care about the health care industry are actually trying to
transform it, transform it for the sake of expanding more.
They've tried it in smaller doses, they tried it with different amounts with
different companies and different approaches and
it didn't work out like, my God, we're taking a huge risk.
I think it was 3.9 billion or something like that.
They were paying for this.
And then, it's gonna become, well, they put a lot of money into this one, now,
maybe this one, they're gonna be putting these safeguards and
making sure it works a certain way.
None of this was talking about helping people in their health care, but
actually about, we're expanding, we're gonna transform it, and
maybe we can be a part of this game.
Because they have to again, they have to get their shareholders to approve this.
What do shareholders care about?
[LAUGH] >> The American people's health care?
That's what they care about.
[LAUGH] They care about maximizing profit, of course.