New to Amazon Prime is drug benefits. Amazon is always looking to make Prime more appealing since that consistent monthly revenue is great for their profitability and stock price.
The new plan is called RxPass and allows Prime members to get unlimited generic drugs from a list of 50 different types, which treat a total of 80 different common ailments, like high blood pressure, diabetes, acid reflux and anxiety. Here’s a list of the medications.
At least 150 million people take at least one of the medications Amazon is now offering with this service, so the market is huge. They currently don’t offer specialty medications or insulin and haven’t commented on whether they’ll expand into other offerings.
The cost of the program is $5 per month, which includes free delivery.
Amazon has been working on their entry into the pharmacy market for several years, acquired PillPack in 2016 for $753 million and launching it’s own pharmacy in 2020. They got into telehealth, which has been projected to be the new wave of care, only to shut down the service. They then acquired primary care provider One Medical for about $4 billion.
With Amazon Prime members can save up to 80% on generic medications and up to 40% on brand-name prescriptions.
Launched in 2005 by offering members 2 day shipping, Prime has continued to grow over the years to include faster shipping, video, music and now pharmacy.
There are over 200 million Prime members (double from 2018) across 22 countries, which bring Amazon $31 billion in annual revenue, which accounts for about 7% of sales! 1