Public Citizen Advises US Decision-Makers Investigate Amazon-One Medical Merger

Public Citizen should reject Amazon’s proposed acquisition of healthcare provider One Medical, in a letter sent to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, and leaders of Congress. advised.

The nonprofit consumer advocacy group, which works to defend democracy and ensure governments work for the people, said today that the merger would be under investigation, or that “Amazon will continue to serve consumers, competition, and businesses.” should be rejected unless committed to strong, legally binding safeguards to protect the integrity of medical system. ”

“The risks to competition, patient privacy and quality health delivery are clear. There is none.”

Public Citizen raised the following concerns:

1. Amazon could gain an unfair competitive advantage in the healthcare market.There is good reason to fear that Amazon will use its dominant role in the online retail market to gain an unfair advantage in healthcare delivery, for example by bundling Amazon Prime with One Medical memberships. .
2. Amazon may misuse patient health data. The personal medical data that One Medical accumulates on a regular basis is of great value to marketers such as Amazon, which has an undeniable inherent interest in trying to access the most personal data. I’m here. Additionally, there is good reason to worry that health insurance portability and accountability laws are insufficiently protected to prevent Amazon from vacuuming One Medical’s patient data.
3. Mergers can exacerbate health care inequalities. Amazon-One Medical may disproportionately serve healthier and wealthier patients. This leaves other providers with sicker and less profitable patients, driving up overall costs and exacerbating the health disparities already experienced by vulnerable populations.
4. The merger could exacerbate Medicare overbilling. Through its acquisition of One Medical, Amazon could build a nationwide primary care network that will inflate Medicare payments as part of its business model.
5. Mergers can compromise the quality of care. Amazon’s online business model can seriously undermine the quality of primary health care, including preventive, acute and chronic disease management care. While some virtual visits can improve access to consumers, overly aggressive replacement of in-person medical visits with virtual visits may directly go against the appropriate provision of needed in-person care. there is. In this context, Amazon’s demands for robot-like efficiency in its employees may conflict with its obligation to provide quality healthcare. And finally…
6. The merger could compromise One Medical’s worker rights. Amazon has a well-documented history of hostility towards workers exercising their right to unionize. Similarly, One Medical employees report feeling rushed, pressured, pushed, or unable to provide the quality care they believe their patients need. . Amazon seems likely to exacerbate these issues.

Public Citizen President Robert Weisman said, “The American healthcare system is broken, but Amazon’s entry as a major healthcare provider threatens to make it even worse.” Data collection instead of privacy, robotic care instead of bedside manners, widening disparities in healthcare instead of better quality. It boils down to poor patient care, and Amazon’s acquisition of One Medical only exacerbates that problem.”