Say Anything Blog

$4 Prescriptions.  Now everyday low prices on Dr’s visits?  Damn, I thought these guys hated providing healthcare?  I thought they were a menace.

What gives?

Their presciptions are not necessarily cheaper.  On one of my prescriptions they were quite a bit higher than Tom Thumb.

The Supreme Court is a bunch of black robed tyrants

Well, Wal-Mart can’t hit every pitch out of the park.

There’s no denying that their lower prices increase competition and thus make things cheaper and more efficient for all of us.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

He, rob, I wasn’t knocking Walmart.  On tha particular prescription, Costco and CVS were also higher with CVS being the highest.  I had bypass surgery on my heart 2 months ago and consequently I have some very expense drugs.  I think it’s almost criminal to have to pay near $2.00 per pill for some of them so I tend to shop around.

The Supreme Court is a bunch of black robed tyrants

I tend to shop around.

Absolutely.  That’s how we keep prices low.

Who knows, maybe Wal-Mart will figure out how to undercut competitors on that particular pill and pass the savings on to you.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Every single consumer that shops around benefits the rest of the consumers.  That is what is so great about the internet.  You can shop for damned near anything and it drives prices down even further.  But Walmart has done even more than the Internet for bringing down prices--especially in small towns when Walmart comes in.  I don’t know what it will do for healthcare.

You know the attraction to Wal-Mart’s clinics is going to be lower prices, and those lower prices will make Wal-Mart an excellent competitor to other health care providers and help bring down their prices.  Which, in turn, helps everyone in this country, including poorer Americans find cheaper health care.

Again, the problem is that the consumers (unless they are uninsured) don’t pay their own bills.  Someone else does--their employer through premiums, the insurance company, or in the case of medicare and medicain--the government.  There is no reason for consumers to shop around because they don’t pay for things themselves.  And most insurance companies reimburse far below the billed rate for services meaning that if insurance is going to reimburse $50 for an office visit, it makes not a damned bit of difference if Walmart charges $75 instead of the $100 that another healthcare provider charges.

In a related note:

“It’s Econ 101: Best Buy and Circuit City had seen fat margins from flat-panel TVs for a while, and as it happens with any product, eventually the margins come down and the music stops,” says David Abella, a portfolio manager at Rochdale Investment Management, which has assets of $2 billion.”

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/WalMartEffectStrikesAgain.aspx?page=2

Doctor Doug says: I like the idea. If WalMart can rethink the patient encounter/billing/collection process and make it more efficient. Damn I want to see it. Just wait til they have to pony up for those malpractice premiums though.