Walmart Venturing Further Into Healthcare With Medicare Advantage Plan

Walmart is poised to branch out even further into the healthcare sector with today’s announcement that it is partnering with Clover Health to offer Medicare Advantage plans in eight counties in northeastern Georgia next year.

Today’s Medicare Advantage announcement comes two week after a September 17 blog post by Lori Flees, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Walmart Health and Fitness, about the retailer’s expansion plans for its Walmart Health centers. Flees wrote that the giant retailer plans to open seven more of the health centers in Georgia this year, which would bring the total in the state to 12, and also two in the Chicago.

The new Medicare Advantage plans will be called “Live Healthy: Clover Powered, Walmart Enhanced (PPO)”, and “Live Healthy LI: Clover Powered, Walmart Enhanced (PPO)." A Clover spokesperson said that The LiveHealthy LI plan is for people who might qualify for a low-income subsidy that will lower their prescription costs and add benefits. Today’s press release, which came from Clover, says the company’s proprietary software, called Clover Assistant, will support providers at the Walmart Health centers with data, clinical guidelines and machine learning “to surface the most urgent patient needs.”​ ​ ​

"The Walmart brand is synonymous with the best value and low prices, and that's exactly what we're doing at Clover," said Andrew Toy, president and CTO of Clover Health, said in the press release.

The news of the Walmart-Clover Medicare Advantage came amid a flurry of reports about companies expanding the number off counties where they are selling Medicare Advantage plans.

• Cigna is expanding to 67 new counties next year with Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO plans. A company announcement today said it will enter five new states next year when it starts selling plans in markets that includes Cleveland, the Tri-Cities area of southwestern Virginia, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, and Albuquerque
• Humana is expanding into 125 counties with its Medicare Advantage HMO and into 98 with its Medicare Advantage PPO.
• Hill Physicians Medical Group, a California independent physician association, is offering two new Medicare Advantage plans, Brand New Day (HMO), and Western Health Advantage (HMO).
• Zing Health, a new Medicare Advantage HMO plan in Chicago, announced that it was expanding into 12 new counties.