Walgreens' alternative to nationalized healthcare

[Friday]

Go Walgreens!! 

Walgreens Giving Free Health Care to Jobless and Uninsured

The drugstore chain Walgreens will offer free clinic visits to the unemployed and uninsured for the rest of the year at its in-store walk-in Take Care clinics.

Walgreens Patients who lose their job and health insurance after March 31, 2009 are eligible for services they might expect from an urgent-care center or even an emergency room. Their spouses and children are also eligible.

Services offered include providing tests and routine treatment for minor ailments, tests for strep throat and urinary tract infections, and free treatment for respiratory problems, allergies, infections and skin conditions. Patients will still pay for prescriptions.

Walgreens hopes to gain new customers, goodwill, and publicity for its clinics. The program is expected to last through the end of 2009. Walgreens runs 341 Take Care clinics in 35 markets around the country, including Chicago, Atlanta, Miami and Cleveland.

Walgreens Take Care clinics have served over a million patients since opening in November 2005, an estimated 30 percent of whom were uninsured.

Such clinics are yet another example of how businesses are increasingly exploring new and innovative ways to meet America's government-caused healthcare crisis.

-- James W. Wilson in the Liberator Online

[AntonLee]

I started reading this and looked to see where my wallet was, figuring my money was taken to pay for it. . .but low and behold my wallet is still there with money and Walgreens is doing this ON THEIR OWN!?!?!

thank god.

[bile]

Looks like this is a bit old:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/31/walgreen-free-care-for-jo_n_181178.html

...but nice to see. It could be argued that they are as big as they are due to the state in different ways. Either tax breaks because they are a big chain or the like. Probably not as big as a benefit as Walmart tends to get though. Good nonetheless.

Check out the first comment

Just how many people will this help? Certainly not the over 3 million people who have lost jobs just since October. I agree with a lot of the post here. This is just pure PR bullshit.

Can't please the statists. All or nothing i guess.

[John Edward Mercier]

True. But the taxes a business pays are really paid by the consumer.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

Sweet!

I wish there was a Walgreens around here.