You Can Buy Prescription Drugs Without Seeing a Doctor

Instagram-friendly start-ups already offer to mail women the one swimsuit, suitcase, or mascara to rule them all. These sites aim to reduce decision paralysis: They may sell only a few versions of the thing, but trust them, the thing is explicitly superior—and it comes in Millennial pink. One website, Hers, has taken this a step further, cutting out doctor appointments and pharmacy visits by sending a few select prescription medications directly to the women who want them.

Alongside cosmetic treatments for skin and hair, the Hers website has “Shop sex” and “Shop well-being” tabs. It offers birth-control pills, the female libido booster Addyi, and propranolol, a high-blood-pressure medication that Hers markets to customers for the treatment of performance anxiety. Though the medications are, in some cases, far more expensive than they would be at a pharmacy counter after insurance, the Hers price includes an online consultation with a doctor to get the prescription.

Now that people can get anything they want delivered to their door, the or, its wares feel curated and special. But even as Hers and similar companies aim to put consumers in charge of their health, experts say a lack of face-to-face contact with doctors could hurt certain patients instead.