Hey grandpa, they already have Med Clinics. There is a reason why they have McPrices for McMedicine. Are they going to diagnose your pneumonia, mild heart attack, internal bleeding? What about people that need actual ER with all those crazy diagnostic machines and specialists?

^ Yep. I was about to say, he just described precisely what my current medical center does!


What a dangerous jackass.

But that's not corporate enough, they need the paid greeters, the marketing campaigns, and questionable labor practices, and the golden parachutes for CEOs.

They need Disney-sponsored kids meals vaccinations.

And the Republicans call Obama an elitist? This man has no idea what real people have to face day to day.

I'm quite convinced at this point that the core of the Republican Party believes completely in Goebbels "Big Lie" philosophy:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” -Joseph Goebbels

I try to stay out of political converstations, and by no means am I a mcCain supporter....but here, he is absolutely right. He isn't talking about people who need genuine medical care here, he is talking about the other 98% of cases that come into the emergency room. I work in an emergency room full time, it is the only part of the hospital I work in. My job is to create the account which generates the bill, which means I type in the patient's complaints then do all the proper insurance coding, as well as going to see the patient to get consent forms signed. 98% of of people that come into the emergency room come in for things that aren't even remotely emergent (Back pain x6 years, sore throat, cough, fever, knee pain, upset stomach). People who don't have insurance, and know that they have to pay a regular doctor upfront. So they come in and get seen and all the need is an antibiotic. That's $500 (Yes, five hundred dollars) they will never pay. A minute clinic could get them their needed antibiotics for 50 bucks. Also, the majority of people that abuse emergency services (Drug seekers, etc.) are medicaid patients (medicaid is GROSSLY abused. It is unreal). These are costs that you and I pay in our insurance premiums, and the reason why hospitals have to raise prices. We collect about 10 cents for every dollar that a self-pay patient owes us. So in this case, yes, I do agree with McCain (and remember, he is NOT talking about real emergencies here)

When you hear things like this, you need to take a moment to think about what he is really saying. He wasn't suggesting people go to aisle 8 in Walmart for medical care, he was suggesting we have utilize a business model similar to Walmart where the various components of medical care are available at one convenient place, with competitive prices that the average person can afford just like they can afford buying clothes and food at Walmart. As it stands, walking into the doctor's office and having him spend five minutes deciding you are sick and scribbling on a piece of paper costs $150 (to your insurance company).

I would love to hear anyone provide a legitimate criticism for that suggestion.

I would rather die than go to Walmart for health car.

In Australia and the UK, patients go firstly to GPs (general practitioners) for all medical enquiries that are not an emergency. From there they are given referrals to hospitals/specialists/etc., should the doctor in these local clinics not be able to prescribe the required medication.

These act as gatekeepers to the hospital system, since they are small and located in all local communities and can keep the minor cases from ever needing to take up hospital resources.

I know there are better systems out there, but this at least seems like a better way than just building another multi-million dollar facility to cover another section of the population.

>> ^QuadraPixel:
I would rather die than go to Walmart for health car.


Your life is cheaper than Walmart then. Congrats!

I can see a whole new slant for the Walmart 'Greeter'

Hi! And Welcome To Walmar...Medical centre on the left sir, we have a 2 for 1 on morphine drips today...

We have facilities as described by Mr. McCain locally. Walk in clinics can be found all over. Open your phone book, I'm sure there is one near you too if you live in an urban area. The level of care places like that give is substandard and they usually demand payment up front which the poor can't afford. They truly are the Walmart of health care and no one, not even the poor, want or deserve Walmart health care.

Yes, it is possible to create a health care system that uses triage to see that people get the correct level of care and I suspect it is quite effective, but Walmart shouldn't be part of a metaphor for that kind of system.

Not a crazy idea, but difficult to execute, I think. I forwarded this to an ex of mine who is an ER doctor in a major American City, and this Doc had the following as a response...

(A)s long as they operate just like Wal-Mart does... you pay for what you get. Right now, shopping at wal-mart... you can't go, show them a card when at the door (insurance or aid info to ER registration), be assigned a personal attendant for all your shopping needs (ER staff - RN, tech, doctor), browse the store for your wares (test, meds, etc), choose what you need despite any professional opinion (a valuable skill spent years honing by ER staff), demand a meal or a sandwich, leave the store without paying, then have whoever is listed on your card (provided that you supplied genuine and accurate information) foot the bill. Wal-mart has much stricter rules... you go, find, by yourself, what you want or something close to it based on what they choose to sell, buy it (and your own food if you are hungry) and leave. If the store doesn't have what you want, you leave. If the staff or something about the store is not to your liking, you leave. If you show up drunk to the store and cause a disturbance, you get in trouble... not coaxed back into aisle 8 for fear that a lawyer is going to sue the store if you happen to leave and hurt yourself because you are drunk. If you decide to berate the staff while you are there because they don't have what you want, you get in trouble. If you don't pay, you get in trouble. If you cause a disturbance while you are there, you get in trouble.

Shows the power of the merchant in the US.

So yeah, part of me is all for the Wal-Mart plan... just make sure that the experience is true to form."

If only there was a place where I can sort through all kinds of sweat-shop made merchandise, pick up items for my home, car, and office AND get a physical....