Speaking of employers . . .
I got injured at work once. It was not bad, kinda like when you get a hard hit at a sporting match and decide “after the game drive me to the hospital to get it checked out, you know just to make sure it’s nothing serious.”
Employer explained (sounding all high and mighty) “We don’t give rides to hospitals. We call ambulances.” And he did.
I’m not. I’ve been saying for years so long as there is a shortage of doctors and nurses, all the health care schemes and plans in the world can’t fix it.
I sliced my right foot open on a lid from a can of fancy feast (yeah, the cat food). When I could not stop the bleeding, there was no way in hell I was going to drive myself to the hospital (it would have probably turned my car into a blood bath).
So, yeah, it was no brainer to take an ambulance. But that is what you talk about is also why Medicaid offers taxi rides to hospitals.
Thanks for that update. I was wondering how this would play out. Was not against Walmart providing services if they could get care to people who otherwise couldn’t get access, or if they could get care to people more efficiently.
Also, a lot of medical insurance plans have different co-pays for ER vs Urgent Care. Mine is $30 at Urgent care, and $275 at an ER. I weight that heavily when I or someone covered under my plan needs medical attention.
It’s a statement about the costs of the medical business in this country. If anyone can cut costs, it’s Wal Mart. But they couldn’t do it in this space.
The article posted a few replies ago has this:
“citing escalating operation costs and “challenging reimbursement environment,” the company said in a news release.”
In part, the medial insurance business is too ornery even for Wal Mart to manage. Of course, rising costs too. But I’ll bet the “reimbursement environment” (aka medical insurance) was the larger factor. (Just my gut feel.) People complain that doctors charge too much. Wal Mart is telling us that they were going to have to do the same, which would have violated their business objective of providing low-cost medical care.
I wonder how much of the “reimbursement environment” issues were led led by Medicare/Medicaid.