Since its early days, Walmart has been a major transformative force in U.S. retailing. Today, the company can boast that more than 60 percent of Americans shop at its stores every month. Imagine what it would mean if the company was able to replicate its retail success in the field of basic healthcare.
While Walmart is in the early stages of rolling out its Care Clinics — it currently operates 17 at supercenters in Georgia, South Carolina and Texas — the numbers appear to be in the company's favor.
For one, more of the shoppers in its stores have health insurance today than before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) went into the effect. According to a recent Rand Corp. study, 17 million Americans have been added to the rolls of the insured over the past year-and-a-half.
The retailer also has a built-in opportunity with more than 1.1 million people covered by its employee healthcare plans. Jennifer LaPerre, senior director with health & wellness for Walmart U.S., told The City Wire that that 22 percent of patients at the company's Care Clinics have been employees. Employees pay $4 for a visit to Walmart's clinics compared to $40 for everyone else.
Source: walmart.com