CLARIFICATION: RediClinics do accept insurance. The total of $59 is split whatever way between the insurance company and the customer. So if your copay is $20, you only pay $20. Since so many people are interested, here's the list of services they offer along with their FAQ. And no, I am not in any way affiliated with RediClinic aside from my visit to one as a customer (a word I like better than patient) the other day.
UPDATE: Reader Dave Parmly emails:
I was a grudging supporter of these redi-clinic things until my wife developed a very painful UTI and was stuck waiting 6 hours to be seen at the after-hours clinic (since her doctor couldn't see her on 20 minutes notice, natch). She called to tell me this and I went online while she was driving, found a Minute Clinic, saw that they would diagnose UTIs, and she literally made a U-turn to drive there. 30 minutes total, in and out, Rx in hand and she got a free flu shot while she was waiting. Facility was spotless, clinician was very professional and she even got a card in the mail 2 days later from her clinician. Her comment: "My doctor never sent me a card."
29 comments:
Give Wal-Mart another 10 years and we may never have to worry about universal healthcare again.
(I used to not be a fan, but my local Wal-Mart remodeled and added a grocery, and now I do almost all my shopping there. And I even went out and got a Sam's membership)
I don't know about your area, but you couldn't pay me enough to set foot inside a Wal-mart parking lot, much less a rediclinic. The service I have gotten at every store in my area has made it worth the extra 1-2% to go to Target instead.
I agree that Wal-Mart stores vary by the area. In my area, near their home office, their stores are generally very good, though I skip the one actually in my town. (That has more to do with my town than Wal-Mart.)
Congrats on the link from Instapundit. I've never heard of Wal-Mart's clinics before. I'll have to do some research.
I see former atheist and libertarian and supporting Fred Thompson. You sure do like to make yourself a target of some fanatical groups don't you? ;-)
Heck yeah, I haven't tried their clinic yet (I seldom seek health care). But years ago in my naval aviation days I discovered their eye clinics were light years ahead of my free Navy socialized medicine. I could actually get a real eye exam and a prescription update at Wal-Mart - imagine that.
So I chose to spend some money for actual service, as opposed to not spending money for no service, and have been a steady customer ever since.
This was the example I thought should have been raised in the GOP debate last night. Applying margin controls of Wal-Mart to meet 80% of medical needs would go a long way to controlling costs and not interfere with the other 20% that is essential to keep high-quality healthcare.
Amazing, they will be running the planet before long!
I've gotten glasses there. My Wal Mart is probably the nicest one in the country. I live in a small resort town, and Wal Mart was the first big discount store to arrive. It's really nice, and is used by everyone. I've been to others that were pits, but this one is fine.
It also lowered the cost of me living here by about 30%, by itself. I used to drive 50 miles to the next town to shop. Go Wal Mart.
Target, CVS, and Walgreens all are opening quick clinics, too. I applaud them all. Great programs- let the market and competition work.
Just beware when Walmart starts offering free prostate exams... then you KNOW they've got you.
But $59 cost more than the $15 Copay that those of us who have Kaiser Health Insurance pay.
Sure, the employer pays the premiums, but $59 from Wal-Mart is not compelling to those with Employer HMO plans.
If $15 is your copay, then you would only pay $15. It's $59 total, split however between you and your insurance. If you don't have any insurance, you would have to pay the whole $59 yourself.
Gottcha! This is why Blue State Limo Libs hate pickup trucks by the hundreds at Walmart, all under the guise (lie) that they care about "Mom and Pop" shops instead. It's that Walmart will shove their socialism plan up their arthroscopic arses, by doing it cheaply *first*! I went to Walmart in Utah, on vacation, and the well groomed, very nice, albeit rather well fed gal at the eye glass area for free, like some sort of rocket scientist, analyzed why my super over-priced "designer" frameless glasses were making me too dizzy to drive. It was the plane that defined my face that they were all askew in, not the earthly horizontal one that I keep trying to tweak, to no effect. I'm in NYC, where we do have a couple of oddly configured Targets, and a couple of upscale Home Depot's but no Walmart. There's an Ikeas in Jersey, across the river, but shipping costs more than your $120 dinner table, and since none of us even fairly well off Islander's have cars, and certainly not pickups, we indeed need a Walmart, since about 1 in 10 cabs are really mini-vans, or full sized vans can be called for the same price, but they don't go off the Island.
I want to get my eyes lasered, you know the slow process where you have to stay in bed two weeks since no slits are cut in the surface of the eye. Yet there is much cosmetic type surgery done in Mexico (teeth) and Thailand (girl stuff), way on the cheap, paid in cash, I assume.
I don't know that anyone has mentioned it, but remember that walmart has started offering over 300 prescriptions for $4 per month supply.
Sure, it's not the latest and greatest, but I'm pretty sure in that two-odd gross of different medicines most peoples needs can be adequately covered for quite literally pennies a day.
Yeah, you don't get the latest and greatest for next to nothing. Cry me a river. You get pretty damn good for next to nothing instead.
Somehow, I don't think WalMart has much of a future.
According to "Idiocracy" in 500 years Costco will have a monopoly on the discount and warehouse stores. Of course by then "Fuddruckers" will be called "B*ttf*ckers" and most people will go to Starbucks for a hand job.
Oh well. Going from an average IQ of 100 down to an average of 65 will have its ups and downs.
This is a great innovation in the health care field, especially in light of the looming threat of nationalized health care under a future Dem administration. RediClinics are inexpensive because they are staffed by mid-levels (nurse practitioners or physician assistants) and have a defined list of illnesses that can be treated (all others are referred out). Care is quick and efficient. I'm hoping this will relieve some of the pressure EDs are feeling from all the uninsured/uninsurable using them as outpatient clinics. The concept is really cathing on -they already have competition from another group, MinuteClinics. From the point of view of someone who works in health care but is currently without health insurance, I think it's great.
Idiocracy: the only movie bad enough to nearly make me toss Office Space as well. It's perfect for people that think they're smarter than everyone else and aren't.
Recommended watching to get a glimpse into the mind of the clueless nanny-staters. They literally think the world needs them to tell it what to do.
There has to be an opportunity somewhere between concierge medical care and today’s mess of government and employer paid medical benefits whose goals are clearly not aligned with the end-user. (I find it amazing we call something insurance that pays any bills larger than some trivial amount - say the cost of taking the family to the movie theater).
Maybe Wal-Mart has found the opportunity. They're already breaking new ground in high-volume medical supplies. Silicon has made most every other service an order of magnitude "cheaper, faster, better" (for all but the least able or poorly educated of us) and companies like Wal-Mart have no fear of substituting sand for protein robots, keeping the intellects involved in thinking - like pointing a customer at the goods they seek, to perhaps in this case seeing to a customer’s comfort while waiting for a nurse-practitioner..
Wonder when the guilds will object. Lots of princes and principalities (constituencies) involved in the current system. Services so cheap you’ll pay for the convenience will be even more threatening than health-savings-accounts.
Wager we find some of the guilds making common cause with the trial-lawyers, strange bedfellows when both find themselves under a severe competitive pressure and not just monitary but a measurable quality of service. About time.
If one's group/HMO is going to make you wait three days to see a PA, why not Wal-Mart?
I have a relative in medicine, and he says docs and hospitals are all looking into business relationships with such clinics. My only problem with that is, I don't want the computer at a retailer to have access to my computerized medical records.
Actually, Wal-Mart rolled out the idea of RediClinics last year in a modest way. I haven't kept up with it as much as I wanted to, but it appears to be taking hold.
What Wal-Mart does, and has always done, is focus on exactly what consumers want and/or need. This consumer will never book a medical appointment at my family practice doctor later than 9:15 am unless absolutely vital. The reason is because when I make an appointment for 9:15 am, I want to be seen at 9:15 am, not 9:20 or 9:40.
What Wal-Mart is apparently doing is providing a relatively low cost solution for minor aches and pains. Short waits and prompt courteous service--sounds like a winner to me.
Also, Wal-Mart is the master of standardization. They will take just about any insurance and their negotiating power will probably force insurance companies to begin standardizing their claims forms, making it easier on all medical providers in teh long run. A greater cost savings than a lower price for the doctor.
By the way, most doctors charge more than $59 for a visit.
I'm from NJ: Are walk in clincs unknown in the rest of the country? There are several places I can just walk in and see a doctor, usually one who accepts my insurance. They're more expensive (out of plan, anyway) & the wait may or may not be longer than you're talking about (Wal-mart does have efficiency down, plus this area has a high cost of living), but they're definitely available. I never see my regular doc for random flus and the like when I want meds TODAY.
I buy my glasses and contact lenses at Wal-Mart. Prices have been better than the vision plan subsidized prices.
Not only that, but when the dog ate my glasses and I went back to buy a replacement, they replaced them for free, under warranty, even though I did not ask for it.
I think I'd pay $59 even though we've got insurance just to be absolutely certain that I wasn't going to get a bill later because the doctor that assured me they took my insurance turned out to be "out of network."
The extra money would be worth the peace of mind and complete lack of hassle.
The sos'lists tried this a generation ago and failed: there was a federal program that provided cheap loans to less-than-wealthy medical students, and then required them to work at civil-servant rates for several years in public health clinics, to introduce low-priced doctors to poorer areas. The reason given for terminating the program was that so many doctors walked away from the service obligation without paying back the loan that the govt couldn't afford to track them all down. Now, we have another approach to American "barefoot doctors," with a possibility that it could create good middle-class jobs--as physicians!--in an industry that's largely divided into 'Wednesdays off' and 'mandatory swing shift.'
Comatus, you just made the perfect argument *for* these clinics. They are staffed by nurse practitioners, who by training focus on routine health care needs and do not command the salaries that MDs do. Using mid-levels instead of MDs to manage minor health care needs is a great strategy. It frees the EDs from treating stuffy noses and gives MDs patients more appropriate to their level of training. All that and cheap, too!
And, no, I don't work for any of the clinics, in case you're wondering. I just love creative capitalism.
My husband doesn't have medical insurance and never will be able to buy insurance because he is self employed and has a diabetic condition. Doesn't require insulin but once you have any pre existing condidition you are screwed for medical insurance.
Since going to WalMart for his generic metaformin and another script for cholesterol our monthly prescription bills have gone from almost $200 to $8. Plus I can buy some inexpensive household items while I'm there :-)
I wonder what the Great Governor of California is going to do with people like my hubby when they mandate we all MUST have health insurance or face being fined????
I've used clinics like this in various incarnations. I've gotten immunizations for travel and teatanus and routine treatment. The service is fast and good.
I'd take my prescriptions to Wal-Mart, but my regular pharmacist matches the Wal-Mart prices. I just show him the list of $4 meds and he adjusts my price.
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