Reply #8: Pssst .... [View All]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – April 24, 2007 – Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., (NYSE: WMT) intends to contract with local hospitals and other organizations to open as many as 400 in-store health clinics over the next two to three years, and if current market forces continue, up to 2,000 clinics could be in Wal-Mart stores over the next five to seven years, Wal-Mart president and CEO Lee Scott will say in a speech later today at the World Health Care Congress in Washington, D.C. The clinic program’s expansion is just the latest in a series of moves by Wal-Mart to help implement customer solutions to America’s health care crisis, including the $4 generic drug prescription program, health information technology and participation in a major coalition supporting comprehensive healthcare reform by 2012.

“We think the clinics will be a great opportunity for our business. But most importantly, they are going to provide something our customers and communities desperately need – affordable access at the local level to quality health care,” Scott says.

Scott’s speech at the World Health Care Congress is the closing keynote for the three-day gathering of 1,600 CEOs, senior executives and government officials. His speech focuses on the need for action, instead of ideological bickering and finger-pointing, in order to make quality health care accessible and affordable in America.

“The fact is the time for politics in today’s debate on health care is long past. The time for real and meaningful change has come,” Scott says, adding later, “Yes, this is about economics. But above all, it is about our health. It is about all of us -- all 300 million Americans -- living the fullest and best lives we can.”

WalMart