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Primary Health Care for $40 per visit. Where? Walmart!

by Joe Mobley
8 replies
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Wal-Mart has played it safe when it comes to retail clinics, partnering with regional hospitals to offer services like flu shots. But now, the retailer is taking a more aggressive tack, with in-store branded clinics offering primary care at a price competitors may find hard to match.
The price? Just $4 for employees and dependents on the company's health plan. For customers, the price is $40--about the same as an online telemedicine consultation with a doctor.
Call it a $4 wake up call to providers: Wal-Mart is getting serious about health care.
Can Walmart make $4 co-pay work for primary care?

Joe Mobley
  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    Wow! That could be a real game-changer if they can scale it up. I'll be the Walmarts in the cities where they offer that have no problem getting employees.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
      Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

      Wow! That could be a real game-changer...
      You bet your butt it could!

      Joe Mobley
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    This is probably like the CVS minute clinics. BTW I tried the CVS minute clinic. DIDN'T HELP AT ALL!

    Done right, their cost would be near *****ZERO*****! So they could EASILY make money, even at $4! ALSO, DONE RIGHT, there would be HUGE cross sells and upsells! In my case, for example, the doctor prescribed two medicines. GUESS who got the business?

    It would NOT replace a full doctor, specialist, or hospital though.

    Offering its employees a visit with a nurse practioner for the price of a latte at Starbucks could also help Wal-Mart control its own health-care expenses. Earlier this month, the retailer revealed its health costs were expected to increase by $500 million this year because more of its workers than expected are signing up for its health-insurance benefits
    BTW that IDIOT "NEWS" broadcaster said they do physicals! ******BULL****** ! I had a "physical" around 12/2004. It was NOTHING like the FULL PHYSICAL I had in 1979. Anyway, the one in 12/2004 gave me a COMPLETE bill of health. It said I was in good shape! GUESS what happened only 2 months later! I was in an abulance heading to the hospital with an aorta about to burst. Information indicates that a proper blood pressure taken in 2004 could have prevented an expensive operation.

    Walmart is CLEARLY offering the LOW LEVEL service I aluded to earlier, because they DON'T have a doctor look at you, but a nurse practitioner. You see, an NP can make a decent income and do double duty at the pharmacy. He or She can keep the pharmacy legal AND provide BASIC services and advice and give prescriptions.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
      There is a very good CVS close to me. I used their Minute Clinic once and was very happy with the doctor, and more importantly, the results.

      Joe Mobley

      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      This is probably like the CVS minute clinics. BTW I tried the CVS minute clinic. DIDN'T HELP AT ALL!
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by Joe Mobley View Post

        There is a very good CVS close to me. I used their Minute Clinic once and was very happy with the doctor, and more importantly, the results.

        Joe Mobley
        Well, I tend to have a low opinion of doctors in general. I had two problems that I went to many doctors to solve, and ****I**** ended up finding the answers MYSELF. I've had others, like that minute clinic one where the prescription didn't help at all. Ilobe how youcan get a clean bill of health, and later end up nearly dying because of a common shortcut.

        Anyway, they are little more than school nurse offices.

        Steve
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        • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
          Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

          Anyway, they are little more than school nurse offices.
          No. They aren't. The one you saw may not have been good but that doesn't mean they all are.

          I had a NP that found a cocktail of meds for me and I haven't had pneumonia in four years and have only had a few common colds.

          -g
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          • Profile picture of the author seasoned
            Originally Posted by GarrieWilson View Post

            No. They aren't. The one you saw may not have been good but that doesn't mean they all are.

            I had a NP that found a cocktail of meds for me and I haven't had pneumonia in four years and have only had a few common colds.

            -g
            I said little "more", and I was talking about these little clinics. I'm happy for you, but pnuemonia is usually due to bad care, and low lung function. You get infected, and the low lung function allows it to quickly take over, and it makes things even WORSE!

            Pneumonia Symptoms, Causes, Treatments & More

            Hospitals apparently DON'T care about you getting infected! THEIR answer is to force you to cough a lot and hard in hopes that, if you DO get it(or WHEN they do, if THEY have their way), you can keep it at bay long enough that your body can fight it off.

            I SWEAR! I had my rib cage pulled apart, ******LITERALLY******! It was held together with three wire ties, until it healed! And they were trying to get me to cough up a storm! I tried to avoid any germs, washed my hands constantly, avoided touching things, etc... Luckily, I never got pneumonia, but my rib cage didn't heal properly either. My whole cardiopulmonary system was HEAVILY impacted, I was held together with a few little wires(literally THREE! You can see them on an XRAY), and THEIR solution was to just keep coughing! CUTE! I guess the next time I get a bug on the windshield, I should try going 300MPH to blow it off! It makes about as much sense. It took me 2 weeks, after I got home, before I could walk 50 feet without getting winded! That was simply because I had open heart surgery, and my heart was probably still in shock.

            Steve
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            • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
              Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

              I said little "more", and I was talking about these little clinics. I'm happy for you, but pnuemonia is usually due to bad care, and low lung function. You get infected, and the low lung function allows it to quickly take over, and it makes things even WORSE!
              I know what pneumonia is and what causes it. I use to get it every year. And in my case, it has nothing to do w/ bad care and has everything to do w/ SMA.

              -g
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