Amazon recently announced it would seek to acquire boutique health care service provider One Medical. Rather than considering the consumer benefits that may accompany such a transaction, the usual crowd of anti-Amazon, antitrust hipsters rushed to attack this as a problematic entry into yet another industry. These critiques were echoed by some privacy advocates who voiced concerns about Amazon acquiring health data in the transaction.
These critics almost always claim the sky is falling when Amazon makes a move. But just like their prior false exhortations, with a calm and rational examination of this proposed transaction, it's clear these concerns are misplaced. In fact, the privacy concerns with this latest acquisition are already addressed by existing law, and the transaction shows that markets remain competitive in ways that benefit consumers.
