Amazon telehealth expansion delayed after lawmakers’ concerns

Amazon’s telehealth expansion reportedly may be delayed, after Democratic lawmakers expressed their concerns about the service.

According to an email from a person with direct knowledge about the service and obtained by Politico, Amazon Clinic will delay its launch of the expanded services by about three weeks. Politico reported Amazon was set to announce its expansion of Amazon Clinic to all 50 states Tuesday, but that promotional campaign was pushed back to July 19.

According to the Amazon Clinic website, its services are available in 33 states. It is advertised as a “convenient way to find treatment online for many common conditions.” The service does not take health insurance or government entitlement programs and instead charges a flat fee that can be as low as $30.

Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Peter Welch (Vt.) wrote a letter to Amazon executives earlier this month expressing concerns that the platform’s new health care service is putting users’ private health data at risk. The lawmakers cited a recent Washington Post investigation that highlighted how Amazon Clinic users must sign away the rights to large amounts of private health data to use the services.

“Amazon Clinic customers deserve to fully understand why Amazon is collecting their health care data and what the company is doing with it,” the lawmakers wrote at the time.

The lawmakers asked for a response from Amazon by June 30, according to the letter.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Amazon said in a statement to The Hill that there was “no delay as a result of an external inquiry.”

“As we will outline for Senators Warren and Welch in our response, Amazon Clinic has stringent customer privacy policies, and complies with HIPAA and all other applicable laws and regulations,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We’re focused on building products and services that our customers love, and we look forward to continuing to bring Amazon Clinic to even more customers to help address their everyday health care needs.”

The Hill has reached out to Warren’s and Welch’s offices for comment.