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Amazon wants to be your new online pharmacy - and Prime members can save up to 80%
Amazon
What comes to mind when you think of Amazon’s website? Everything? Yep, us too.
One of Amazon’s main selling points is it offers everything under the sun, and much of it ships for free if you’re a Prime member. Dishes? Check. Korean beauty products? Check. Renewed electronics at a lower price? Check. You can find anything you need or want on the pages of Amazon — including this year’s hottest tech gifts under $100.
And that list of available products is always expanding. In fact, Amazon just added a new health-related branch of its business to the mix. If you’re tired of paying high prices for prescription drugs, you’re going to want to pay attention to what it is and how it works.
Amazon’s new pharmacy business
You’ve probably ordered shoes, some hard to find pantry items, and even some tools or board games from Amazon over the last few months. What you haven’t ordered, though, are prescription drugs. Until now, that wasn’t an option.
It is now, though. Amazon is officially entering the drugstore business with Amazon Pharmacy, a new online shop that allows customers to order home delivery of prescription drugs. And yes, shipping will be free for Prime members.
This new online pharmacy has been years in the making. Amazon acquired PillPack back in 2018 and has been slowly building its pharmacy offerings for the last couple of years. Given the pharmacy business’s sensitive nature, though, it’s taken some time to get there.
Here’s how it works. Customers over the age of 18 will be able to access the pharmacy service on Amazon as of this week. The initial rollout is open to customers in 45 states — excluding Illinois, Kentucky, Hawaii, Louisiana and Minnesota. If you live in one of the five excluded states, Amazon expects to open up pharmacy services to you soon.
Once the service is up and running, Amazon Pharmacy will accept most forms of insurance. It will fill most commonly prescribed medications, like insulin, antibiotics, steroid creams, metformin and migraine medicine. What it will not fill are Schedule II controlled medications, which include most opioids.
Discounts for Prime members are significant. You can get up to 80% off generic and 40% off brand name medications when paying without insurance. The overall discounted cost of generics and other drugs through this service could also help save non-Prime members’ money.
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The most significant savings are offered to Amazon Prime customers, who also get free two-day delivery on medications. Customers who don’t have Prime will still get free delivery, but the window of time is extended within five days. There’s also the option to pay $5.99 to upgrade to two-day delivery.
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