As a result of slipping sales in the U.S., the retail behemoth is adding doctor visits to its plan for one-stop shopping. Already there are 400 of these supermart-clinics scattered across the country, and Wal-Mart plans on upping that to at least 2,000 in the next few years.
Why are they doing it? To keep their economic base--lower income families--from spending money on going to the emergency room. Since roughly 16% of Americans cannot afford health care, this may be one of the brightest ideas that Wal-Mart has come up with in ages. The doctors will be real doctors: Wal-Mart is simply leasing space to them cheaply. Patients can then go from there and get their prescription filled while buying soup and crackers.
Given that health care is so ridiculous in cost I am all for this. I think it is shameful that a country as rich as this one has 46 million people that cannot afford to see a doctor. My hope is that in time the convenience of going to Wal-Mart clinics will appeal to enough people to were hospitals and clinics are forced to compete more for patients. I am not advocating that the doctor down the street should be forced into bankruptcy, but I have a problem the fact that people have to choose between paying their utilities or getting help that they may desperately need. True, under federal law no emergency room can turn down a patient, but there is an insane price involved in what should be a right instead of a privilege and that is deplorable.
On a side note, I think Wal-Mart should start attaching apartments to the stores, too. That way I would always be within walking distance of a 24-hour store that sells 7 layer dip.
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