Speaking to a crowd of customers and employees, Dr. Daniel Stein, director of Medical and Clinical Services for Wal-Mart, opens the in-store Wal-Mart Care Clinic on Friday morning at the Shugart Road location in Dalton, Ga.DALTON, Ga. – For Linda Baggett and thousands of other Georgians, Wal-Mart may soon provide their primary health care, at a fraction of what is normally charged for doctor visits.
Wal-Mart opened a health clinic at its Dalton store Friday, offering basic acute care and wellness checkups for $40 for Wal-Mart customers and $4 for Wal-Mart workers and family members on their health plan.
“It’s a great price for my family and the clinic will be open a lot more hours than my pediatrician,” said Baggett, a Wal-Mart cashier for seven years who expects to use the clinic to help care for her three children.
The new venture brings the world’s biggest retailer — and America’s biggest private employer — directly into the health care business for the first time.
“We’re driving down the cost of health care,” said Dr. Daniel Stein, director of medical and clinic services at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark.