In the midst of the constant drumbeat of naysayers who would have us believe that government intervention in health care destroys competition, along comes Wal-Mart to prove them wrong. The world’s largest retailer is teaming with Humana, the second largest provider of Medicare benefits in the U.S., to offer a program to Medicare beneficiaries that will make drug coverage available through Wal-Mart’s network of low-cost pharmacies.
The price for the coverage to be introduced this week is a low $14.80 per month – a full fifty percent less than the average premium cost for similar programs in 2010.
How are these two giants going about making such a program available in this age of alleged government interference? The old fashioned way. They are gambling that their lower prices will boost business for both participants and make up in volume what they lose in margin.
This is what real competition is all about and serves as a testimonial to the fact that
government involvement in health care does not put the kibosh on free markets in medicine in the segments of the health care industry where a consumer driven approach can actually work.
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