Amazon, Dell Founders finance healthcare startup

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Bangalore: Qliance Medical Management, which has three clinics in the Seattle area that offer primary care treatment to patients who pay a monthly membership fee ranging between $44 and $84, depending on their age has raised $6 million in new funding in a financing round led by Bezos Expeditions, the personal investment company of Amazon.com's CEO; additional financing came from MSD Capital, Michael Dell's investment firm. The actor and comedian Drew Carey, Seattle venture capital firm Second Avenue Partners and other investors also joined in the funding of Qliance, which has raised a total of $13.5 million to date. Nick Hanauer, a partner at Second Avenue Partners and an early investor in Amazon and other technology successes, says the participation of Bezos and Dell in the financing of a health care wasn't a departure for the men. The company's clinics are open seven days a week and says its doctors are able to spend more time with patients - at least a half-hour for routine appointments and an hour for physicals - than most physicians who take insurance do. The company argues that its care covers roughly 90 percent of the medical issues that people see doctors for, from checkups to minor fractures to vaccinations, as well as ongoing care for chronic illnesses like hypertension. Qliance members typically pay other companies for insurance to cover emergency procedures and serious illnesses, such as cancer.