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Amazon now has an online pharmacy with free 2-day shipping for Prime Members
You can now get prescription meds on Amazon shipped to your home for free.
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Amazon is throwing its considerable bulk into the healthcare industry, with the release of Amazon Pharmacy for most of your pharmacy needs. You’ll be able to get prescriptions filled online, get all the usual Amazon Prime perks for two-day shipping, and even discounts on prescription costs.
To get started, you’ll have to sign up for a new, secure pharmacy profile, which probably means your health information will be kept under better security conditions than that of your main Amazon account.
Adding in your health insurance details means never having to hand your insurance card to another corner store pharmacist, and you’ll be able to get most of your medication needs shipped to your home. The only exception is Schedule II medications, including opioid painkillers, which Amazon won’t be carrying.
Image: Amazon
You will be able to get important medications like insulin, steroid creams, and others. The storefront will offer generic versions and brand name medications, with supposed discounts of up to 80 percent on generics and 40 percent on brand names when paying without insurance. Prime members will also be able to save if they buy their medications in-person from over 50,000 pharmacies in the US, like Rite Aid, CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens.
The service will be available starting this week, in every state except for Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Minnesota; Amazon says they aim to expand to those states in the future. Most insurance plans will be accepted, and you’ll get the option to talk to an actual pharmacist for advice if needed.
The downside to this (depending on how you look at it)? Amazon will have all of your health information, including your health insurance details, your long-term medical issues, and your regular prescriptions.
Think it’s bad when you get odd products in your suggested section because you searched for them once? Well, wait until that section starts showing you ads for hemorrhoid creams or other medications, based on your existing history.
Thankfully, this won’t be the case. An Amazon spokesperson tells KnowTechie the company will not show ads based on Amazon Pharmacy prescription information, or any other information Amazon Pharmacy has that is protected by HIPAA.
Plan on using Amazon’s pharmacy? Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.
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