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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (4362)	2/8/2008 11:30:30 AM
From: John Koligman	Respond to of 42652

Not a bad thing, there was a small chain called CheckUps that had clinics in 23 Walmart stores and they went bankrupt. I don't know if there is some flaw in the biz model or the guy backing the venture simply ran out of money before seeing a return. Certainly with Walmart's backing these things can now be out there for a long time without fear of going bust. Regards, John "Wal-Mart’s rebranding effort comes in the wake of one notable failure in its clinic business. Last month CheckUps, a clinic operator headed by Jack D. Tawil, a New York businessman, ran out of money and closed its operations in 23 Wal-Mart stores in four Southern states. It was not the first unhappy business experience for Mr. Tawil, who had not previously worked in health care. In 2003, he became entangled in a legal dispute with the London department store Harrods over the use of its name on a line of watches he was selling. The case ended with Mr. Tawil defaulting and being ordered to pay Harrods $4.68 million. He was able to avoid making that payment by filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in the United States, according to federal bankruptcy court records in New York. Mr. Tawil said in a telephone interview that he had found new investors for CheckUps and hoped to reopen in the same Wal-Mart stores, starting next month. Wal-Mart has said that with or without CheckUps the clinics will reopen. But even if they do reopen under CheckUps, at least some of the nurses will not be going back to work there, according to Nikki Leimer, owner of a nursing employment agency in Mandeville, La., that is suing CheckUps over money the agency says it is owed. In the future, said Dr. Agwunobi, the Wal-Mart executive, “We are going to want to know that the local health care providers can keep their promises.”