Apple launches Apple Care for people with new in-house medical clinics

Warren Buffett has evocatively referred to “the ballooning costs of healthcare” in the U.S. as “a hungry tapeworm on the American economy.” To keep costs down, more companies are starting to take care of their own. In the wake of news that Amazon is launching its own healthcare company with Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan–in addition to long-standing rumors about it entering the pharmacy business–comes news that Apple is opening medical clinics for its 120,000 employees. Basically, it’s AppleCare, but for its people.

As CNBC reports, Apple has launched “AC Wellness,” offering its employees the “world’s best health care experience.” A website for the venture is already up. The company will initially open two clinics, one inside its Apple Park headquarters (aka the spaceship), while the other will located just nearby. They’ve already brought on staff from Stanford Health Care, according to CNBC.

It’s a clever move that could lead to substantial cost savings. Healthcare in the U.S. is the most expensive in the world and American tech firms spend more per employee on healthcare than most other industries. If only the rest of us humans could sign up for AppleCare for People, too.