I was in the middle of the middle of the Great Hippy Experiment of the 1970s. I love being in the center of important historical changes.
There may be an historical change happening down at 20th and Mission here in San Francisco. QuickHealth has opened their second clinic in a pharmacy on this corner. You can see the pharmacy in the photo on the right with a billboard for QuickHealth on the side and a woman in the front handing out flyers.
Inside, (photo on the left) there is a traditional pharmacy window with a price list on the right in Spanish only. You present your request at the window and are escorted to the back for treatment. Everything is clean, white and I only heard Spanish spoken.
You can check the prices on the QuickHealth website in English. Definitely click on this for a surprise.
The two uncontrollable cost realms in healthcare are the 50% of doctor and emergency room visits that could be handled reasonably and cheaply at an outpatient clinic. On the other hand, 60%+ of the healthcare expenses are spent on people about to die.
QuickHealth is designed to deal with the first of these major healthcare problems. I, along with everyone in business, will be looking at this experiment to see if it is profitable. If it is, Walgreens and WalMart plan to open clinics in every store they have.