Online retailer Amazon is looking at getting into the pharmacy business, CNBC reports.
If the problem is soaring health care costs, in part related to prices for medicine, an Amazon-related solution — one that relies on bargaining clout, operational efficiency, market competition, and the profit motive — just might be able to make progress where government-driven solutions — ObamaCare, Medicare, Medicaid — have not fully succeeded. One might argue that the current drug system works reasonably well at creating incentives for innovation and at providing many people access to life-saving medicines at relatively low out of pocket costs. It will be interesting to watch, if Amazon does get into the business, whether it thinks it can actually add value, or whether it just wants to capture some of the market share and pharmacy dollars now flowing to other retailers.
