Owe your soul to the Company Store... Wal Mart

Wal Mart is up to some new tricks-- telling part time employees they are no longer eligible to get health care benefits, but at the same time are looking to open primary health care Medical Service outlets in their stores.  Honestly, most Wal Mart employees working 24 hours or less a week probably can't afford health care, but of all the mega big box employers, Wal Mart of all places should be able to negotiate a group rate discount for employee benefit offerings. Some people actually take jobs for the ability to obtain health care benefits.

Huff Po Business reports:

"The nation's largest retailer sent out a request for potential partners last month that would help the store become "the largest provider of primary care services in the nation," according to NPR and Kaiser Health News. Walmart sent the request -- whichindicates that the store plans to offer services ranging from vaccinations to urine tests -- during the same week the retail giant said it would cut health benefits for part-time workers, according to NPR.

By making a push to become a player in the health care industry, Walmart is putting itself in position to take advantage of a highly profitable sector of the economy. And that shouldn't change any time soon. A recent report estimated that health care costs would account for a fifth of the entire U.S. economy by the end of this decade."

NPR reported the story & a Wal Mart spokesperson had this to say:

UPDATE: Walmart says its description of its health care ambitions in  the request for information sent to vendors that was obtained by NPR was "overwritten and incorrect," Reuters reports."We are not building a national, integrated, low-cost primary care health care platform," John Agwunobi, senior vice president & president of Walmart U.S. health & wellness said in a statement, according to Reuters


The correction is probably


We ARE building a national, integrated, cruise the gravy, for profit, primary care health care platform,


We can see where this is going-- the part time employee will be sent to the for profit medical center, housed in the store, maybe even put the tab on a future paycheck?