Free Republic

Amazon announced its number of Prime customers for the first time last week. The online retailer counts 100 million of them — who, excluding students and others affiliated with educational institutions, each pay $99 — around the globe to subscribe. Sixty-seven million of these Prime customers live in the United States. A majority of U.S. households voluntarily joined this exclusive club, which, the numbers indicate, is not very exclusive. Members benefit from discounts, streaming television, movies, and music, expedited shipping, and other perks. Might Amazon soon offer health insurance coverage to Prime subscribers? The company, as CNBC reports, already sells...

Amazon has disrupted fashion, books, furniture, food, cloud-based storage services, and much else besides. Now, it’s coming for one of the biggest, most complex industries in the US: healthcare. Today (Jan. 30), Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan announced a vague but market-moving plan to launch an independent company that will offer healthcare services to the companies’ employees at a lower cost. The venture, which will be managed by executives from the firms, will be run more like a non-profit, than a for-profit entity. The market value of 10 large, listed health insurance and pharmacy stocks 1 dropped by a combined...