Wal-Mart to open more in-store health clinics

Reuters reports:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which has been facing fierce criticism over employee benefits, said on Thursday it will open more than 50 in-store health clinics this year and make further changes to workers' health-care plans.

Run by third parties, the clinics are open to shoppers and employees, and are staffed by doctors who can treat non-emergency illnesses such as strep throat. Costs average between $45 and $50 per visit, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams said.

Wal-Mart said many of the patients who used the clinics in an initial nine-store pilot were uninsured, and would have gone to a hospital emergency room to be treated instead.

The national average cost for a doctor's visit is about $60, while an emergency room visit averages $383, according to insurer BlueCross BlueShield. More than 40 million Americans have no insurance, and often turn to emergency rooms for care.

No word yet on whether the union movement will try and prevent this because low prices for poor people isn't what the labor movement is all about.