Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced on Tuesday that it will offer a $5 monthly subscription plan for U.S. Prime members that will cover a variety of generic drugs and their doorstep delivery. This is part of the ecommerce giant’s push into healthcare.
The programme is called RxPass, and it includes more than 50 medications that treat over 80 long-term conditions like high blood pressure, anxiety, diabetes, and male pattern baldness, according to Vin Gupta, the chief medical officer of Amazon Pharmacy.
But customers who are enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid, or any other government health care programme will not be able to sign up for Amazon Pharmacy’s RxPass service.
John Love, vice president of Amazon Pharmacy, said in an interview that the average Prime member would save about $100 per year with RxPass. On Tuesday, Amazon Prime members in most U.S. states will be able to sign up for the programme.
The flat $5 charge would be on top of the $139-per-year Prime membership fee in the United States and would not include insurance.
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The new service fits in with Amazon’s continued focus on its healthcare portfolio, which in recent years has included telehealth, drug delivery, fitness trackers, and cancer research.
In 2018, Amazon bought the online pharmacy PillPack. This helped the retail giant set up a site for comparing prices and delivering prescriptions. Now, its pharmacy initiative is becoming a bigger threat to CVS Health Corp. (NYSE: CVS) and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA), which both sell drugs.
“We think a lot of Americans, especially those with long-term illnesses, will benefit from Amazon’s participation in pharmacy,” Love said. “They will be able to get high-quality services delivered to their door at low prices.”