Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., listens during an Economic Club of Washington discussion in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Becoming Dr. Amazon

So imagine you have a sore throat. You let Alexa know, and it responds by asking if you want to book an appointment at the doctor's office or get a virtual consult. You pick the virtual option, and the doctor through Alexa asks you about your symptoms. It decides to send a courier to your home with a tiny portable device to do some basic tests for things like strep throat. The strep test is positive, so the virtual doc sends over a prescription for an antibiotic. (We're assuming that all the Amazon services are fully compliant with privacy and other laws.)

All this happens within a few hours, and you never need to leave your house to sit in a medical office or stand in line at the pharmacy. That vision of the future might seem like science fiction, but it's plausible to some health industry insiders. "I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon starts out in health by providing things like over-the-counter medicines, and then moves into making the experience easier for managing your health," said Tom Robinson, a San Francisco-based partner at Oliver Wyman, who consults with health and life sciences companies. Robinson said it's possible for Amazon's Alexa to become a "front door" of sorts for health care. If it can provide virtual care, including diagnostic testing and pharmacy, it could become a "closed loop" system. It wouldn't be able to deal with all problems, Robinson points out, as some can only be managed in person. But it could do a lot for basic ailments, preventative care and potentially even to help people with chronic medical conditions.

Food as medicine?

Now that Amazon owns Whole Foods, it could also help people eat healthier. As Jason Langheier, CEO of a food-tech start-up called Zipongo, told CNBC, Amazon could create a web-based service for people to access meal plans, kits, recipes and even subsidies on fresh foods for those who are already suffering or at risk for disease. It might inch closer to that, he suggests, by nudging people to eat healthier food options online, which could include some advertising and product placements. "With its underbelly of e-commerce, Amazon can touch the one thing (food) that has the greatest public health impact." We haven't seen many signs of progress around in this area yet, although its employer group is likely looking at poor diet as a leading contributor of preventative (and expensive) illness. WATCH: Remember when Amazon's stock tanked 90%? Long-term investors still got rich

Selling prescription meds?