Will Consumerism be the thing that disrupts healthcare?

We can all agree that this season of the economy has been an interesting ride and rigorous as heck in some form of fashion or funds. A while ago when Amazon acquired One Medical, I stated this acquisition would be one to “shake the table” in many ways. While it was a pivot towards telehealth, one of the other positions I saw this doing was towards healthcare. When they laid out the rollout of their “Health” arm of Jeff Bezos’ internet, I saw the tide turning in how we knew healthcare to be. 

Could the acquisition be the alignment for not only how healthcare is obtained but also how it could become more affordable? 

So the just of their rollout of Prime being a source of healthcare. Part of your Prime membership gives you access to doctors, specialists, virtual visits, and medications ( via their RX Pass offer for an additional $5/month) for $9/month or $ 99/year. Without Prime - $199/year and for each member of your family $66/ year. They also are rolling out their brick-and-mortar clinics in major cities. I’ve been seeing influencer posts about OneMedical and them showing how “un-doctor aesthetic office” their clinics are. 

One Medical is also a bit double dipping due to still accepting insurance. But this could be good for those who are only able to afford lower insurance plans - as a supplement. On their website, one thing that stuck out to me was this line “Care solutions for adults and kids”. Even they know that healthcare and insurance are in sinking sand. 

We are watching insurance coverage become more expensive for all, especially women paired with our healthcare workers being overworked while underpaid moving into strikes for healthcare companies and hospitals. The average American spends $12,914 per person making U.S. healthcare spending roughly 2.7 percent in 2021, reaching $4.3 trillion or $12,914 per person (source). 

Amazon knows that people will pay for convenience, savings, and accessibility. And other conglomerates like Apple, CVS, Wal-Mart, and Costco are moving into offering some level of that within the healthcare monopolization we are witnessing. Costco is building a similar offering where members have access to $29 online healthcare visits. Healthcare and health insurance are something that you shouldn’t skip on, but many do it not only due to the curate rate of inflation but also the current/past rate of how much healthcare they could afford. 

Even with Healthcare Marketplace offering subsidies didn’t give as much relief for some Americans making over a certain threshold. The average monthly premium for an individual health insurance plan purchased from the HealthCare.gov marketplace is $456. Even to point out that Americans are seeking alternatives for wellness to potentially lower their need for healthcare services. The global wellness industry raked in $5.6 trillion last year, alone. Consumerism not only has the data about how much Americans pay for healthcare but is looking within its infrastructure to align the customer journey even more. The data tells the story and shows the decision and the insert of those conglomerates into the healthcare/insurance chat adds even more data inputs into the way that they could influence convenience, savings, and accessibility more into the American “health plan”.

In a tweet around the announcement of this “Prime” offering, I asked if this could become some sort of “membership healthcare”? While it was a play-up of how your employer offers you health insurance under a ‘group’ this will echo even more within the retail space. 

Almost 1 in 10 Americans are uninsured (source) but while I feel this could be more, this is speaking loudly. There are 23 states where the uninsured rate is above the 8.0% national average. Plus “Education” seems to be one of the largest predictors of health insurance status and these companies know this. 

Even though the average cost of healthcare insurance for a single person is about $117 a month for employer-sponsored coverage, the co-pays, in/out network, medications, and more – drive up the cost to live more than what consumers have to spend. But how could this move by retail to try to relieve Americans? 

It could show them that while healthcare and health insurance are a necessity, and even though they pump the costs of it due to greed. There needs to be a restructure of the whole healthcare/ insurance landscape even more than I could prescribe. 

Here’s some quick tips for consumers:

1. Take an audit of what you spend on healthcare and how your current plan aligns with that and alleviate stress on your accounts. Even though it’s open enrollment, look to see what you spent/used, and if you plan you had to make sense or cost too many cents. 
2. Look into other options against the cost-per-use ratio of your insurance. 
3. See if there are other ways to cut down on services like blood work or even saving in your HSA to build a buffer. 
4. If you can’t afford it, look into subsidies and associations that could help you along your health journey. 
5. Always ask for an itemized bill! We know how medical debt can be a pain! 

Stay healthy and budgeted, friends.