Walmart Forms Company To Sell Insurance Amid Healthcare Push

As it grows its healthcare offerings beyond low-cost clinics and technology to help patients manage their medications, Walmart has formed a new company to sell insurance policies called Walmart Insurance Services LLC. The business’ moniker was initially filed late last month in Arkansas with the secretary of state, MedCityNews reported.

Walmart provides insurance information access at its Walmart Health outlets, and its Healthcare Begins Here initiative assists individuals with locating insurance plans, according to a Walmart representative cited in the report. “We’re expanding our current insurance services to include the sale of insurance policies to our customers,” the representative said.

The new subsidiary appears to be geared toward selling Medicare Advantage Plans, per the report.

Listings for employment at a Texas call center also reportedly reflect the launch of Walmart Insurance Services. The retailer is said to have active postings for licensed insurance agents and Medicare sales supervisors that read, “Yes, you read that right, Walmart now has an insurance agency.”

The retailer has also formed a collaboration with an upstart called Capital Rx that offers current information on prescription prices.

In late June, Humana said that “an innovative new collaboration” was in the works that would turn it into “the first healthcare company to offer its members drive-through [COVID-19] testing at hundreds of Walmart Neighborhood Market drive-through pharmacy locations across the country.”

Walmart, for its part, has been seeking to bring its experience creating retail supercenters and decreasing costs to the healthcare sector. The retailer has slowly been entering the healthcare services arena, running approximately 24 low-cost clinics in Texas, Georgia and South Carolina. Walmart opened clinics in Springdale, Arkansas and Loganville, Georgia in June.

In addition, the retailer reportedly paid approximately $200 million to purchase key assets from CareZone. The startup, which is based in Washington State and was launched a decade ago, creates apps to assist patients in managing their medications.