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On Medicaid? Amazon offers recipients a Prime discount
gainsville.com ^ | 3/7/2018 | Joseph Pisani ap

Posted on 03/07/2018 3:03:17 PM PST by bitt

Amazon has taken another step to woo low-income shoppers to its site and away from rival Walmart.

The online retailer opened its discounted $5.99-a-month Prime membership on Wednesday to people on Medicaid, giving it an even bigger pool of potential shoppers who may otherwise have been unable to pay the standard fee.

Since June, Amazon has offered the same Prime discount to people using food stamps or other government assistance through an Electronic Benefit Transfer card. Adding Medicaid recipients makes Prime, and its expedited shipping for no extra cost, accessible to more people, Amazon said.

Industry analysts believe Amazon is maneuvering both to expand its Prime membership numbers, and to go after people whose first shopping destination may be Walmart.

Nearly 70 million people are enrolled in Medicaid, which provides health coverage to low-income people and those with disabilities. More than 42 million participate in the food stamps program, through what is now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Amazon.com Inc. declined to say how many people signed up for Prime under the EBT card expansion, but Aaron Perrine, who oversees the program, says those that did sign up kept the service and were engaged Prime users.

To apply for the discounted Prime, Medicaid recipients need to take a photo of their Medicaid card and upload it to the site. The $5.99-a-month price compares to the regular $12.99 pay-by-month option and is nearly $30 cheaper than the $99-annual-fee plan.

Besides two-day shipping, Medicaid receipts will get Prime’s other perks, such as access to Amazon’s video and music streaming services.

Avi Greengart, an industry analyst at GlobalData, said the discount could be helpful to Medicaid recipients with medical issues who can’t make it to the store to buy heavy items, such as laundry detergent, or who can’t spend more than $25 on every order to qualify for free shipping.

“They are enabling people who otherwise would be priced out,” said Greengart.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: amazon; amazondiscount; medicaid
nose under the tent tactic AGAIN!!!!
1 posted on 03/07/2018 3:03:18 PM PST by bitt
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To: ransomnote; Whenifhow; null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; kalee; Kale; 2ndDivisionVet; ...

p


2 posted on 03/07/2018 3:03:41 PM PST by bitt (We dont need an electric chair, we need electric bleachers.)
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To: bitt

I am PO’d that EBT cards can be used on Amazon.

Does Walmart accept EBT online?

Probably.

GrrrrRRRRRRrrrrr.

So sick of this chit.


3 posted on 03/07/2018 3:14:14 PM PST by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.)
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To: bitt

forgive me if i’ve overlooked something,.. but...
we thought flaky Flake was retiring, resigning, leaving the senate?

WHEN????????????????????


4 posted on 03/07/2018 3:14:51 PM PST by faithhopecharity ("Politicans aren't born, they're excreted." -Marcus Tillius Cicero (3 BCE))
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To: All

I wonder just how many politicians Bezos has bought (or blackmailed).


5 posted on 03/07/2018 3:16:39 PM PST by LegendHasIt
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To: LegendHasIt

Bezos the CIA-kid?


6 posted on 03/07/2018 3:17:25 PM PST by combat_boots (God bless Israel and all who protect and defend her! Merry Christmas! In God We Trust!)
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To: faithhopecharity

Are you on the right thread, my FRiend?


7 posted on 03/07/2018 3:18:52 PM PST by Menehune56 ("Let them hate so long as they fear" (Oderint Dum Metuant), Lucius Accius (170 BC - 86 BC))
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To: bitt

I guess this would also include wealthy early retired people eligible in MCaid expansion states by minimizing their income. Free healthcare and cheap Prime!


8 posted on 03/07/2018 3:20:24 PM PST by GnuThere
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To: combat_boots

That’s the guy.

He sure makes some sweet deals for himself, usually at taxpayer expense.


9 posted on 03/07/2018 3:21:45 PM PST by LegendHasIt
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To: bitt

I have decided to cancel my Prime Account and will not renew. Don’t really need it. I cut the cord in January and I find that NetFlix and Hulu are enough along with what I get with my digital antenna. I may end up letting HULU go also.

YouTube also has plenty to watch and no charge.

Amazon with this and it’s new foray into Banking is enough for me to cut my ties. They are an evil company.


10 posted on 03/07/2018 3:22:50 PM PST by Captain Peter Blood
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To: Menehune56

no. sorry. dont know how that happened


11 posted on 03/07/2018 3:24:17 PM PST by faithhopecharity ("Politicans aren't born, they're excreted." -Marcus Tillius Cicero (3 BCE))
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To: bitt

More freebies!

Amazon will pass the difference on to it’s regular customers. Punishing the rest of us. One more reason to avoid Amazon like the plague.


12 posted on 03/07/2018 3:35:18 PM PST by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola.")
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To: bitt

This is one of the many paths they are taking toward “basic income”.

In my ideal, “basic income” would come entirely from charity. I have no problem with Bezos personally giving $80/year to every medicaid recipient to buy amazon prime or even giving them prime for free. I would praise him for doing it. If he could support 10-20% of the country (the upper-lower-class) to live a reasonable life without working and without government that’s a huge accomplishment (if that’s what he wants) I’ll buy him a beer (or whatever he wants for me to show appreciation).

But, in their ideal, the “income” would come entirely from MY taxes (Bezos has an accountant to avoid the taxes or transfer them directly to “medicaid recipients” or whoever he favors this year so I pay this “income” and he deducts it from his taxes)

Their eventual goal is that everyone gets enough government money plus private services/products so that nobody HAS to work. Their private services/products are written off in tax deductions, so the middle class pays for part of the lower class to live without working, and encourages the growth of that part of the lower class that could work but would have a lower standard of living if they got a paycheck instead of Bezos’s discount. The middle class has to work much more because we are footing the bill for everyone Bezos wants to help - either through taxes, or through payments to Bezos companies that given free stuff to the lower class.


13 posted on 03/07/2018 3:36:35 PM PST by LostPassword
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To: bitt

Walmart has offered the best deal on prescription drugs, not just for the welfare crowd, but for all US citizens and senior citizens especially.


14 posted on 03/07/2018 3:39:00 PM PST by Neoliberalnot (MSM is our greatest threat. Disney, Comcast, Google Hollywood, NYTimes, WaPo, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC ...)
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To: Jane Long

I think they have to. Walmart does not charge a membership fee and they are not majority owned by a leftist pig that uses a national newspaper to spew their hate, and that is a very big difference.


15 posted on 03/07/2018 3:44:24 PM PST by Neoliberalnot (MSM is our greatest threat. Disney, Comcast, Google Hollywood, NYTimes, WaPo, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC ...)
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To: bitt

I’ll NEVER buy from Amazon again, that’s it. I’m done !!!


16 posted on 03/07/2018 3:47:55 PM PST by Java4Jay (The evils of government are directly proportional to the tolerance of the people.)
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To: Java4Jay

Why? What provoked that reaction?


17 posted on 03/07/2018 3:51:32 PM PST by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O'Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
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To: LostPassword

Lord forbid they offered the same deal to medicare recipients - retired people who paid into the system for ~45 years and provided for their own living standards -

and those medicare resipients probably vote for deplorables...

Bayzo (alkie) I mean, Bezos, is pulling the big con on the gov’t..

not to mention, they are collecting more metadata on future ‘voters’..


18 posted on 03/07/2018 3:54:36 PM PST by bitt (We dont need an electric chair, we need electric bleachers.)
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To: bgill

Yep. There are no free lunches ... someone will pay for that lunch .... remember CommieCare!


19 posted on 03/07/2018 6:43:25 PM PST by RetiredTexasVet (Start using cash and checks or the elite class and bankers will make "cashless" the norm.)
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