I am surprised Walmart has not opened clinics in their stores. They could singlehandly bring down the price of healthcare. Think of how many locations they already have.
Plus their pharmacy business would boom.
The fact is you do not need to go see a doctor(MD) for a lot of the typical visits. This would also cut down on medicare fraud and lighten the crowds in emergency rooms across the country.
I was in a huge WalMart store in Bangor, Maine yesterday.
They had a clinic in the front of the store, with a nurse sitting at a front desk. There was a large sign with prices. Almost everything was a flat fifty dollar fee; a sports physical, treatment for a cold, sprain, and a long list of treatments for various illnesses and injuries.
A few treatments were $70.
I had heard of these clinics before, but I had never seen one. The WalMart store in my area of Maine, about a 45 minute drive from Bangor, does not have a clinic. The Bangor store is larger than other WalMarts in my area, so maybe that’s why they have a clinic and the others do not.
Walmart has opened some independent clinics affiliated with their stores, though it isn’t wide spread.
Overview
http://www.walmart.com/cp/Walmart-Clinics/1078904
Locations
http://i.walmart.com/i/if/hmp/fusion/Clinic_Locations.pdf