Because the mega-chain is adding medical clinics to their list of offered services.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said on Tuesday that it will contract with local hospitals and other organizations to open as many as 400 in-store health clinics in the next two to three years.

Should current market forces continue, the world’s largest retailer said up to 2,000 clinics could be in Wal-Mart stores over the next five to seven years.

Wal-Mart said the effort marks an expansion of a pilot program it started in 2005, when it leased space within its stores to medical clinics. Currently, it said 76 clinics are operating inside Wal-Mart stores in 12 states.

I think this is excellent news.  If there’s anything our health care industry needs it’s more exposure to market forces.  And “market forces” is what Wal-Mart does best.

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.

It’s a good thing, but I imagine the usual suspects (see: the unions) will be carping about it.  Because Wal-Mart won’t unionize or some ridiculous argument like that.