Kroger Joins Wal-Mart, Target, CVS and Walgreens
Nashville, TN -- Kroger Co. says it has made a "significant" investment in The Little Clinic LLC to support a rollout of the in-store health centers across its locations nationwide.
Currently, Little Clinic operates 26 walk-in clinics inside Kroger-owned stores. The clinics handle minor illnesses and injuries like bronchitis, sinus infections and sprains, and also provide physicals, screenings and vaccinations.
Kroger, headquartered in Cincinnati, operates more than 2,400 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 31 states.
Comment: While politicians in Washington and the three presidential candidates dream up the next grandiose government healthcare reform to address rising healthcare costs, the most effective, affordable and convenient market-based healthcare solutions might be right around the corner, at your local Kroger, Walgreens, CVS, Target or Wal-Mart. Let a 1,000 retail healthcare clinics bloom. No, make that 10,000.
6 Comments:
Do you have any links on how an entrepreneur can start a small clinic? This is the RIGHT way to lower health care costs.
-Amit
This, combined with much less expensive high deductible catastrophic insurance is the way to go. If we de-link insurance from employment by getting rid of those tax incentives (and employer payroll taxes generally while we are at it) and let people buy their high deductable insurance anywhere, costs should really come down and be better for everyone.
If you want to invest, you could do it indirectly by buying stock in the retail companies that are puting these clinics in their stores. Or, better yet, are any of these clinics publicly owned? I would want to know how they are run, but this is looking like a good way to make a buck. Make a buck by reducing prices, that is what I love about our fabulous market economy! (just wait till all those over paid health services workers get on the street demand wage controls though!)
Despite all the negative press Wal-Mart seems to garner, they are the ones that truly know how to force prices downward.
I bet that all of the protestors won't have a problem saving money at health care clinics located in stores they are constantly protesting at.
An entrepreneur can't start a clinic - you need tons of money and lawyers to battle the physicians...plus these stores may be using them as loss-leaders for their pharmacy and/or grocery sales.
you need tons of money and lawyers to battle the physicians.
What physicians are being battled?
plus these stores may be using them as loss-leaders for their pharmacy and/or grocery sales.
When I worked retail pharmacy we sold a lot of drugs at or near cost. Sure, some cheap generics were used as bait for front end sales. See why the Pharmacy is in the back of the store?
But, you can't run a business of "everything" is a draw for sales somewhere else "at cost".
If I can't get in fast at the clinic; there is a real good chance I won't be going in to buy milk.
What also of the federal civil service's practice, at least when I worked as a civilian scientist for Air Force Systems Command in the '70's, of offering many different competing group health and dental plans, with free switching every year? If employers (depending on size) had to offer a number of plans, the insurers would no longer have only the HR people to "sell". Employees could vote yearly with their payroll deductions... I think that would also drastically open up more of a free market situation for many, many people.
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