The health care expert Regina Herzlinger explains why even those with insurance occasionally opt for retail medical clinics.

Question: What are the benefits of the retail medical movement?

Regina Herzlinger: The retail medical movement is very important. One of the main reasons people who have insurance don't get health care is not that they lack the money, but it's so darn inconvenient to get to a doctor, an emergency room, a hospital. These retail clinics that are located inside a department store or your local drugstore, they're the answer to lots of people's prayers.

Clearly they're not doing brain surgery in the little clinic in your drugstore. But if your kid has an earache, and you can go the emergency room and sit next to a guy who's been shot by an Uzi, or you can go to a retail medical clinic, well that's a pretty easy choice.

Another great thing about these retail medical clinics is they have an innovation in medical care. They tell you what the price is going to be before you actually have the service. They have the price there, $59, $69, so you know what you're getting in for when you go there.

Recorded on: May 27, 2009.