…in the aftermath of what was nearly universally regarded as the disastrous closing of the emergency room at Baton Rouge General Hospital’s Mid-City campus, which followed behind the closing of Earl K. Long Hospital as part of the reform and privatization of the Charity Hospital system.
MinuteClinic, a retail medical clinic company, has opened a new walk-in clinic inside the CVS/pharmacy store at 5360 Highland Road.
The clinic, open seven days a week with weekday evening hours, is the third MinuteClinic in the Baton Rouge area. The others are in the CVS stores in Perkins Rowe on Bluebonnet Boulevard and on Airline Highway in Prairieville.
The clinics are staffed by nurse practitioners who specialize in family health care, such as strep throat and ear, eye, sinus, bladder and bronchial infections.
So far, MinuteClinic hasn’t set up shop in North Baton Rouge, but it’s inevitable that it, or something like it, will make an appearance there.
The point being, where there is a hole in the market someone seeking to make a buck will fill it. We’ve forgotten that fact and demand that government do those things, and we invariably spend far too much money on just that thing – and the services provided are usually much worse than the market would.
In this case, you’ll end up with neighborhood medical clinics, rather than a super-expensive ER, taking care of all the minor things people without insurance have been going to the ER for.
When there’s no ER available, those people will make for a rich market for the MinuteClinics of the world. And yes, when there’s a car wreck or a shooting, the ambulance will come and take those patients to the ER at Our Lady Of The Lake where they should be going.
But rather than be excoriated, as the Left has done over the closing of the ER at BR General’s Mid-City campus, the Jindal administration ought to be lauded for opening up the market so that lower-cost providers of health care could emerge to provide a more efficient and convenient option.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen, though.
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