Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Flu shots in supermarkets

The mayor of Boston is against ’em: “allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong.” (David Gratzer, “Health care innovation, and its enemies”, Examiner.com, Feb. 7). More views: Gene Pinkham, “Is the flu on your shopping list?”, Malden (Mass.) Observer, Jan. 18 (sick people might start visiting supermarkets and we can’t have […]

The mayor of Boston is against ’em: “allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong.” (David Gratzer, “Health care innovation, and its enemies”, Examiner.com, Feb. 7). More views: Gene Pinkham, “Is the flu on your shopping list?”, Malden (Mass.) Observer, Jan. 18 (sick people might start visiting supermarkets and we can’t have that); Paul Howard (Manhattan Institute), “Competition won’t ail you”, Boston Herald, Feb. 9. More: Bainbridge.

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7 Comments

  • Sick people already visit supermarkets. God forbid they actually receive any treatment, I suppose.

  • “allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong.”

    So I guess this genius is opposed to the whole concept of a retail pharmacy? Does he think supermarkets should eliminate that entire aisle of over the counter medicines?

    Would selling chicken soup at retail be wrong?

  • By that logic I guess making money on poor people by selling them food would also be wrong. After all people need food to live. Close down the supermarkets in the poor areas of the cities!

  • “allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong.”
    That works for the 22 Shriner’s Hospitals in north america. But combined they provide about 0.001% of all health care. Maybe each community could build a ‘volunteer’ hospital for the sick and staff it in the same manner that volunteer fire departments are run.

    But then, are people who need flu shots sick at all? They are to get them to prevent sickness, which is better than the cure (seeing as there really isn’t a cure for the flu).

    • By nevins

  • Don’t most people make their living off other people’s misfortunes? For instance, I have a contractor coming int o repair my front door, which is rotting. Should he not make money, because it’s my misfortune?

    Last year, my husband was in a car crash. When all was said and done, the repair shop got a check for almost $10,000. Should they not get paid for people’s misfortunes?

    I fire people for a living, for goodness sakes. I’m getting paid to cause people misfortune!

  • I’m quite certain my family doctor is billing me (my insurer) more than his service is costing him. He’s a retailer. And???

  • If only he felt so strongly about lawyers not making any money from other people’s misfortunes…

    • By LAN3