The rapidly expanding retail medical clinics are a boon to those without insurance or those who have high deductible plans, reports The Wall Street Journal. Treatment for minor medical problems costs much less at store clinics--averaging $49 to $59--than at physicians’ offices. And while most people with employer-sponsored insurance pay the same copay whether they see a physician or go to a nurse practitioner at a retail clinic, some employers are encouraging workers to use the store clinics by reducing the copay. People who use the store clinics like both the convenience and the fact that prices for procedures and treatment are posted. Some physician groups have argued that the store-based clinics prevent patients from establishing a “medical home” for consistent medical care, but the clinics say they won’t treat problems best handled at a physician’s office and they do refer patients to their physicians for recurring illnesses. And with a nurse practitioner available at nights and on weekends, the clinics offer patients an alternative to the hospital emergency department for routine medical care.
