A few years ago I reported on the newly established for-profit drop-in clinics when the first one opened in San Francisco. It is still going strong and doing well.
I notice as an employer in San Francisco, where we have trust accounts for health insurance at $4600 per year per employee, that about 25% of that amount is used for medical expenses by employees, annually. Employees do not like to fill out paperwork for small medical expenditures. A large number of them are going to these for-profit clinics.
Here is a new twist on that same do-it-yourself health phenomenon. The photo is an health insurance company with two employees and a counter in the local Lucky supermarket.
On the left is a woman whose job it is to handle your insurance paperwork and deal with insurance coverage issues. On the right is a woman who can handle issues of testing and advise on a few issues such as weight, nutrition and blood. On-site she can do several weight and blood measurements. She can also order blood testing.
Considering that the last for-profit clinic project has now spread to nearly every drugstore and Walmart in the country I expect similar expansion of the type of site in the photo.
