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Wal-Mart to expand health insurance role

NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Monday that it will dive deeper into the health care market, unveiling an initiative to allow customers to compare and enroll in health insurance plans in thousands of its stores.

Walmart is teaming up with DirectHealth.com, an online insurance comparison site and independent health insurance agency, to set up counters in its stores where consumers can talk to licensed agents about the options.

‘‘Our goal is to be the number one health care provider in the industry,’’ said Labeed Diab, president of health and wellness for Wal-Mart US. ‘‘And the more we broaden our assortment, the more we broaden our offering, the more we educate the customer Walmart is a great place to create a one-stop shop.’’

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For several years, Walmart has moved to expand its reach into the health care sector, where Americans are spending an increasingly larger share of their dollars. Earlier this year, the company began opening primary care centers at several locations. Hundreds of its stores include acute-care clinics that offer basic services, including flu shots and blood-pressure screenings. Walmart made waves about eight years ago when it said it would offer generic versions of some prescription drugs for $4.

Some competitors are by some measures outdoing the big-box retailer with their forays into health care: CVS, for example, has more than 800 retail clinics, according to the consulting firm Merchant Medicine. Walgreens has about 400, while Walmart has about 100.

Walmart began hosting agents from individual insurers in 2005. The newly announced offering expands on that, with the agents able to guide customers through thousands of plans. DirectHealth.com agents will get a commission if they enroll a customer.

Diab said Walmart hopes this one-on-one service will become a gateway for customers to come to their stores for all of their health care needs.

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The program, Healthcare Begins Here, kicks off Oct. 10 and runs to Dec. 7. Walmart will initially offer the program at 2,700 of its 4,311 US stores.