• Amazon announced on Friday that it is raising the cost of a monthly fee for Prime membership to $12.99, from $10.99, an 18 hike.
If one pays for Prime membership on a month-to-month basis, it costs almost $156. An annual membership costs $99.
Re/code writes that “Prime is the engine at the center of the Amazon commerce machine — Prime members buy from Amazon more frequently than non-Prime members and also spend more, hence why Amazon introduced the monthly option to lure new members. So, if the company is raising the fee, you can bet that it discovered that the current $10.99 was just not sustainable.”
• CNBC reports that “Amazon has hired a top Seattle doctor in its latest push into health care … Martin Levine of Iora Health, which focuses on Medicare patients in six U.S. markets, is one of Amazon's most high-profile hires to date in health.” Iora is described in the story as “a standard-bearer for better primary care, which it achieves by investing in customer service. Its practices accept patients through an employer or a private Medicare plan. Most of these groups are looking to cut down on their health care costs.”
Levine is “a geriatrician who has focused on treating elderly patients with complex medical conditions,” the story says, and “could be joining Amazon's internal health-care group known as 1492, which is testing a variety of secretive projects.”
If one pays for Prime membership on a month-to-month basis, it costs almost $156. An annual membership costs $99.
Re/code writes that “Prime is the engine at the center of the Amazon commerce machine — Prime members buy from Amazon more frequently than non-Prime members and also spend more, hence why Amazon introduced the monthly option to lure new members. So, if the company is raising the fee, you can bet that it discovered that the current $10.99 was just not sustainable.”
• CNBC reports that “Amazon has hired a top Seattle doctor in its latest push into health care … Martin Levine of Iora Health, which focuses on Medicare patients in six U.S. markets, is one of Amazon's most high-profile hires to date in health.” Iora is described in the story as “a standard-bearer for better primary care, which it achieves by investing in customer service. Its practices accept patients through an employer or a private Medicare plan. Most of these groups are looking to cut down on their health care costs.”
Levine is “a geriatrician who has focused on treating elderly patients with complex medical conditions,” the story says, and “could be joining Amazon's internal health-care group known as 1492, which is testing a variety of secretive projects.”
- KC's View:
