Clash of Giants: UnitedHealth Takes On Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase
6th February 2019
The real threat to Optum may be Amazon, which has already made some forays into the pharmacy business and is willing to sacrifice profits as it builds market share. Optum is vulnerable because its customers — particularly employers — have little insight into its businesses, which range from health data services to pharmacy benefits, said Michael Turpin, a former UnitedHealth executive who is an executive vice president at USI, an insurance brokerage.
“It is truly the most opaque of all black boxes in health care,” Mr. Turpin said. He added, “Amazon is lying in the grass and will someday pop up and do something disruptive around pharmacy.”