Posted on 09/18/2019 10:27:08 PM PDT by aquila48
I live in exactly the right location to see the outcome of a grand experiment. The pilot Walmart Supercenter is located in Dallas, Georgia. So am I.
On Friday the 13th, the CEO of Walmart cut the ribbon at the grand opening. Sadly, I only learned about this grand opening on the morning of September 14. There had been no publicity while the store was being remodeled over the last 12 months.
So, what you are about to read is based on original research conducted on the cheap on the afternoon of September 14.
1. A Right-Hand Turn
My house is about 60 seconds from the highway.
If I turn to the right and drive approximately 1.7 miles, I arrive at the Walmart Supercenter.
I walked into this Supercenter through a new wing: Walmart Health. There, I found a health care delivery system that is far more comprehensive than the standard walk-in clinics that have sprung up in America's mini-malls. Here is what is available.
- Primary care
- Dental
- Counseling
- Labs & x-rays
- Health screening
- Optometry
- Hearing
- Fitness & nutrition
- Health insurance education & enrollment
I have seen it. I am impressed.
Here is Walmart's press release.
The Walmart Health center will offer low, transparent pricing for key health services to provide great care at a great value, regardless of insurance coverage. Customers will be notified on the estimated cost of their visit when they book their appointment.
The Walmart Health center will be operated by qualified medical professionals, including physicians, nurse practitioners, dentists, behavioral health providers, and optometrists. Walmart Care Hosts and Community Health Workers onsite will help customers navigate their visit, understand resources and be a familiar presence for regular visits.
(Excerpt) Read more at mises.org ...
The fine print was not that fine.
Of course they're subsidized...by WALMART! These prices are at a loss.
The purpose? To CRUSH CVS and Walgreens, see them driven before them, and hear the lamentations of their shareholders.
Had to happen. Others are doing this or similar such as The Surgery Center of Oklahoma. There is just too much money to be made doing this. It had to be done by an outsider though. They system is not going to take away its own gold mine.
Most medicine is strictly commodity and not rocket science. A lot of it has hidden behind vernacular that is being uncovered by the internet. In the past all you really needed to decode the doctor speak was a Merck Manual.
The problem for Walmart though is liability. They have so much to lose. But I guess you can say about the same for the huge health systems.
What a concept! Knowing your medical bill before you get it. Just wow. Try going to your doctor or hospital and asking how much it costs without them treating you as if you are a fool to ask. Like, you have a choice in the matter? I should.
At last count we have 2 doctors serving a population of more than 15,000. One of those is likely to leave an honest practice and enter the medical marijuana prescription mill scam and another already has. There are at least 5 doctors now in this one small area along a major E-W interstate in the “Pain Medicine” business. The other two or three doctors around here are reading X-rays out of their house or skulking around the small local hospital hoping not to be found too easily while they nurse their addictions or try to recover from them.
A process driven organization with one doctor and a flock of PAs but taking only routine cases would have a steady stream of business. Priced reasonably, they could have a steady stream of willing and mostly satisfied customers.
Don’t most insurance plans offer 2 free cleanings in a year?
The last cleaning I had was $300!!! They want you in every 6 months if you are dumb enough for that.
Let’s see Amazon top this.
My prescription plan is through express scripts and their mail order pharmacy is half what local pharmacies charge.
I think I should disagree with the author on one point and that is his statement that hospitals are “not for profit”. I doubt this very very much.
“In contrast, the hospital is a non-profit enterprise. By law, non-profit enterprises have no owners. Employees may not profit directly from innovations that lead to higher profits. In non-profits, everyone is salaried. There is therefore far less incentive to cut costs and reduce prices.”
The Merciless Sisters out of St. Louis are very profit driven. They have little administrators that try to push throughput quotas to the doctors and other medical staff. Why do that if not for profit? Something has to pay for their massive expansions and expensive administrators.
It looks like CVS better up their game, and maybe Walgreen’s as well. The competition will be good for everyone.
Huh?
It’s not like a Sam Walton family member is the one performing your teeth cleaning.
bmp
Concierge medicine operating on a walk-in, cash basis can evade much of this overhead. That is good, but it is not a level playing field. The question for Walmart will come when the activist groups, soon backed by local, state and federal pols, demand that the store-based clinics offer free medicine to low-income clients. You know: "no one can be turned away."
its all about finding a liquid, debt-free price point in the market.
the challenge for EVERY other economic sector in the American market-place-ALL of which have distorted by artificially low interest rates since 1980
I'll but my breakfast cereal there...I'll but other things there. But healthcare? Don't make me laugh!
But = buy!
“The last cleaning I had was $300!!! They want you in every 6 months if you are dumb enough for that”
That’s more than twice the going rate where I live. Did that include X-rays?, Deep cleaning under the guns?
Only thing is, given "people of WalMart" I hope they have world-class instrument sterilization.
The last cleaning I had was $300!!! They want you in every 6 months if you are dumb enough for that.
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The most important thing to remember about taking care of your teeth:
You don’t have to floss all of your teeth. Only the one’s you want to keep.
Not sure I'd go beyond that myself and use a WalMart doctor, I will say I think this is a good thing in putting competition in lower-level health-care services and it should hopefully drive prices down.
This is certainly something to keep an eye on.
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