A pair of Democratic Senators penned a letter to Amazon executives Friday, concerned that the platform’s new healthcare service is putting user’s private data at risk.
“Amazon Clinic customers deserve to fully understand why Amazon is collecting their health care data and what the company is doing with it,” Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote.
Citing a recent investigation by The Washington Post, the senators drew attention to the fact that users must sign away the rights to significant amounts of private health data in order to use the company’s services.
Amazon Clinic launched in late 2022 and pledges to offer easy, affordable access to medical professionals who can write prescriptions for as little as a $30 fee, much cheaper than traditional healthcare.
But that cost may be much higher and be in the form of private data sold to third parties, according to The Post’s investigation and the senators.
Welch and Warren formally asked Amazon to fully explain what data is collected by Amazon Clinic, what the company does with that data and if it is shared with any third parties for any purpose.
Their letter notes that the Federal Trade Commission fined digital pharmacy GoodRx $1.5 million last year over similar findings that the company did not disclose how much data it collected from users or how that data was used.