Amazon is pitching insurers to cover its medical-care service

Hello,

Welcome to Insider Healthcare. I'm Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer, and today in healthcare news:

• We broke the news that Amazon is trying to persuade insurers like Aetna to cover its medical-care service;
• Inside Moderna's lab, where the biotech is developing cubes that could pump out vaccines almost instantly;
• Upstart health insurers are taking a page out of UnitedHealth's playbook.

If you're new to this newsletter, sign up here. Comments, tips? Email me at [email protected] or tweet @lydiaramsey125. Let's get to it…

Amazon is trying to persuade Aetna and other health plans to cover its medical-care service, but it stumbled out of the gate

• Amazon's medical service has approached several health plans to become a covered benefit.
• That would allow Amazon to reach more people and more companies.
• But Amazon Care isn't set up to do business the way some of the health plans want.

Get the full scoop>>

Moderna is developing 6-foot cubes with the US military that could pump out vaccines almost instantly. It's the biotech upstart's next step in the mRNA revolution.

• Moderna and the US military are working on a miniaturized vaccine-manufacturing process.
• The goal is to develop a portable cube that can produce doses in mere days.
• It could improve global access to mRNA medicine and help thwart outbreaks.

Go inside the lab>>

A new breed of health insurers is taking a page out of UnitedHealth's book and providing care directly to patients, and it could reshape the US healthcare industry

• Health insurer upstarts have made care delivery a core part of their business strategies.
• Alignment, Bright, Clover, and Devoted all employ doctors and care for their directly.
• They're betting that doing so will help them lower costs and compete against industry giants.

Here's how>>

More stories we're reading:

• An analysis found that Medicare spent more than Costco did on the same generic drugs (CNN)
• A leading US disease expert says there's 'no doubt in my mind' that vaccinated people are helping spread Delta (Insider)
• One Medical's workers are unionizing (Modern Healthcare)
• Vermont is about to become the first state to reach herd immunity. Massachusetts and Hawaii are close behind. (Insider)

- Lydia