Amazon Plans to Open Health Clinic for Seattle Employees

Reports this week suggest that Amazon has plans to open a health clinic for its employees in Seattle.

A report from CNBC this week revealed that the online retail giant has plans to build a health care facility for its employees near its Seattle headquarters.

Insiders at the company claim that the plan will help to bring down their health care cost for their employees. To kick off the plans, Jeff Bezos hired primary care expert Christine Henningsgaard last year.

Amazon wouldn’t be the first company to start a health clinic for its employees. Apple recently established the AC Wellness Network which serves Apple employees and their families.

CNBC reporter Christina Farr explained that Amazon was looking to outsource health care services to third-party vendors. After exploring their those options, Amazon realized that it would likely make more sense to develop their own health care services.

Amazon was previously looking to outsource its clinics and brought vendors in to pitch their services. After numerous rounds of discussions, Amazon ultimately decided to develop clinics internally, one of the people said. Providers including Crossover Health and One Medical offer on-site or nearby services for other companies, including those in the technology sector.

Some analysts have questioned whether or not the services of the Amazon health clinics will be available both low-level warehouse workers and high-paid engineers. At the outset, it is likely that the services will only be available to engineers and executives. Some have speculated that Amazon will eventually make the clinics available to customers along with employees.

Breitbart News reported last week that Amazon had sliced its British tax bill in half even though its profits in the country had tripled.