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 ...
Root canals, extractions and periodontal work.
My relatives still live in "the big city" and have discovered the hard way that these "finest hospitals" are nothing but training centers for doctor wannabes who may or may not get it right. On the other hand, I live in a rural area and know exactly who my doctor, specialists, and surgeons are, and I don't have to wait for anything. We get top-notch care out here, and both my wife and I have suffered afflictions that I feel sure would have left us dead or handicapped for life had we relied on "big city" medical care.
I own a farm out on the edge of the county, and we are a thirty minute drive to the hospital. However, I asked what their response time was in case of an emergency, and they replied to me that the helicopter would be sitting in my front yard within 6 minutes of the 911 call. Now, that's service! Of course, we pay a small membership fee every year ($75?) that guarantees this.
Walmart's getting into the private healthcare business? I say bring it on! I just wish they would get their head screwed on right about the guns and ammo thing.
I live within easy commuting distance of several of the world’s finest hospitals. It’ll be a snowy day in July when I go to Walmart for *any* kind of medical...or dental...care.
I’ll but my breakfast cereal there...I’ll but other things there. But healthcare? Don’t make me laugh!
If you were paying massively out of pocket your mind you tune would change quick. Unless, of course, you are wealthy and enjoy wasting money.
I have no doubt “Walmart hospitals” must be terrifying to health care executives. Their gravy train is coming to an end.
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.
The CEO of our local “Baptist” hospital just made the news. For buying a $1.5 million riverfront home. It was the most expensive home sold in the Jax, FL area last week.
#13 canals and bridges do cost millions : )
Love their pharmacies. Every time i traveled or moved, they went out of their way to get meds filled. Most routine meds are cheaper than my mail in pharmacy and cheaper than the VA. Mail in... yes please put my meds on a 100 degree mailbox.
#31 Dingo Tartar and Breath Dental Sticks for All Dogs er.. Humans will be given to all customers.
I trust Walmart more than I trust your fake post drivel
I’ve been to a couple of their optometrists and I’m not impressed. If that’s the kind of physicians they end up having, I’ll pay to go elsewhere.
But it may be adequate for low income people. Which I suppose is their target customer.
Walmart pharmacy is a mixed bag...
I have been self buying a med I need through walmart....
Then one day they mandated I had to submit it to my insurance, which limits how much I can buy at a time and actually costs me more to buy that way and told me I had no choice because of federal regulations.. Which I know to be a complete and utter lie... I work in HC industry both delivery and billing and there is no such regulation on the books.
When they started their $4-generics several years ago, that was revolutionary.
I have noticed on many of the ‘local’ Medicare Advantage plans that ‘formulary’ generics range from $0 to $3.
Know your bill before you get it. What a concept!
I hope the idea takes off.
I once had a situation where a nurse practitioner at a Walgreens walk-in clinic got the correct diagnosis on something that had been blown by the doctor at a local ER.
I doubt anyone that works in these clinics speaks English as a native language.
Something I learned 60 years ago BEFORE Walmart...
Small towns often had two of everything. Mom and Pop stores, two drug stores, two lumber yards, ect. The purpose was to show there was no monopoly in anything in town.
BUT, there were under the table hand shakes between the parties not to undercut each other on prices and keep the prices high. The local City Fathers also had a hand in it, keeping out more competition.
A few years back I was in California and noticed the difference between a local Walmart prices and a local grocery store prices on laundry detergent. The local grocery store price was DOUBLE the Walmart price.
We got what you were writing. Of course, you meant root canals, implants, etc. You walk into a dentist’s office these days and they charge you a thousand dollars.
About 15 years ago, the guy I was dating at the time (the term tightwad doesn’t begin to describe him) convinced me to buy my new eye glasses at Walmart. But I am certainly not opposed to saving money.
Yes, they were much cheaper than the optometrist’s. They also literally fell apart after about six months. The screws kept coming out, the nose pads broke twice and had to be repaired, then the lenses kept popping out and finally the bridge broke. Sometimes you get exactly what you pay for.
My niece had been getting her family’s prescriptions filled at Walmart but switched back to CVS because of getting the wrong Rx filled – they used the old Rx on file and not the new one sent over by their doc with a different dosage and then refused to fill the correct one and this was a vital heart medication for her step son, and another time being told an Rx was ready and after standing in line for a half hour, being told it wasn’t ready and in fact wouldn’t be for a couple of days because it was out of stock.
My other experiences at Walmart?
I bought a pair of carpi pants and a cotton top that literally fell apart at the seams after one wash, buying a bag of apples that looked nice on the outside but every single one was brown and completely rotten inside - inedible, buying a bag of frozen broccoli that was so freezer burned, I threw it away, buying a set of salt and pepper shakers that from the picture and description “crystal”, looked like glass but when I opened the box, they and the tops were cheap plastic and the tops didn’t fit properly so when you tried to use them, salt and pepper would come out of the sides where the lids didn’t fit properly.
Not to mention several beyond surely Walmart employees and then there are the customers. The last time I went to a Walmart was over the summer. I was looking for a new microwave cover, one of those plastic domes that prevent food from spattering.
I first went to Target, my go to for these types of items. As I was wandering around the kitchen goods section, not one but two Target employees asked if I needed help finding something and not only told me what aisle it was in, but walked me over to it. Unfortunately, the type they had wasn’t what I was looking for – too small and the gal apologized for not having what I was looking for and suggested other places to find it including Walmart. I did buy some other stuff while I was there and as always, check out was fast and easy, the gal working the register friendly and engaging. I know a lot of people here hate Target but they do a very good job in my experience with customer service.
I’m also a bit biased because when I first moved to PA and was unemployed for a time, I got a seasonal job at Target. FWIW, I also applied at Walmart but never heard back from them. I worked very hard at Target and providing good customer service was stressed every single day at the start of our shifts, and the pay was fair, several $’s above minimum wage and I have to say they treated even us temps very fairly. For instance, I worked Black Friday and that entire weekend and the managers brought in deli trays, cookies, pots of free coffee and coolers full of free soda and bottled water and even made homemade chili and BBQ in crock pots as a thank you for working that weekend. And I volunteered to work Christmas Eve and got over time pay for the entire shift. When the seasonal job ended, I was offered a perm position in the grocery department at full time, but I had just landed a full time job in my field – HR/Payroll making a lot more in salary and benefits than what Target could offer, but on my last shift, the manager gave me a $10 gift card as a thank you for working. Not a huge amount but a nice gesture IMO, and all the seasonal temps got one. Oh and ETA, I got a 10% discount while working there. I used this discount to buy a Garmin GPS for my niece who was buying it (repaid me) as a Christmas present for her husband. With the sale price plus my employee discount, she saved a lot.
So I went to Walmart looking for the microwave cover. The first thing that struck me walking in the door was that the place smelled like BO. Seriously, it smelled like a bad case of swamp a$$, the odor was overwhelming. I’ve heard the Walmart odor described as the odor of poverty and desperation and that of third world market places.
It was also very crowded but what irritated me most was how customers were blocking aisles with their carts and refused move so I could get by. When I said “excuse me” to one woman she looked at me as if I had called her a dirty name. Although since it was apparent she didn’t speak English, she might have thought I had.
I did eventually find the microwave cover but passed by more than one Walmart employee, none of who gave even gave me a glance live alone asking me if I needed assistance, but then I tried to check out. The lines were ridiculously long so with only one item, I went to the self-checkout. There was a Walmart employee overseeing the self-checkout and as a register opened and since I was next in line, I went to it, she put up her hand and yelled, “Yo! You! You be needing to wait” and after looking around for no apparent reason, motioned me rather rudely to the check out and glared at me the whole time.
While it may be a good low cost option for some, I just can’t see myself going to Walmart for healthcare.
I live in the York PA area and my primary care doctor is in the Wellspan system. And I like her and all the Wellspan providers. What I like is that I have continuity of care across their entire system and all their providers. For instance, when I went to see a doctor in the Wellspan system for numbness in my arms and hands and underwent testing for carpal tunnel, the report was not only sent to my primary care doctor but also posted in my patient care portal, same with when I saw an orthopedic for my back problem and a trigger thumb and all the Wellspan providers can also see all the medications I am taking and all my office visits. When I get my yearly mammogram and routine annual blood work, the results are posted on line, sometimes the results are available for me to see on the patient care portal in less than 24 hours. I can also see the doctor’s detailed office visit notes.
Walmart healthcare for me?
Based on my Walmart experiences – nope.
Trump can tie-in sane government medical protection to a capitalist medical delivery system. It'll blow democrat delusional plans out of the water - - offering voters a realistic alternative.
AND it's totally competitive with the 'pie in the sky' insanity democrats are pushing...
The incentives are healthy, helpful and workable - - lower prices, competitive medical markets, and access based on capitalitsm's 'my money's as green as yours' - not a 'who do you know' or 'are you a connected elite' etc.
Start small - Trump offers $600 per year, per citizen, for heath care. Citizen's make the choice how they want to spend their medical dollars...
The $600 can be used with ANY 'medicare approved provider' (this saves time and expense and keeps out crystal ball readers, quacks, and scammers) And since it's already set up system - it's cheaper. (Or an agreement with Amazon can be worked out for payment and approvals... probably cheaper in the long run)
A private citizen can choose to spend their $600 on 15 minutes with an emergency room doctor - OR getting their teeth cleaned, new glasses, an annual check up at Walmart, and money left over for a prescription or two.
Thank YOU Walmart...
Tucker and Jesse Watters will see the value... they can help with this one... it's our best chance to stop the commie insanity of socialists taking over health care, it'll drive down prices while allowing the medical profession to go modern (finally), and it has positive incentives. People can also use THEIR $600 to pay deductibles on their company health insurance plan. Everyone wins... and it STOPS commieCare...
No and no.
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