MeninoWatch: Why Can't They Cure Our Bronchitis Where We Buy Our Cigarettes?

The Herald's front page gives a starring role to Mayor Menino's opposition to new state regulations allowing for in-store medical clinics at CVS locations (a change Bostonist outlined yesterday.)

The Herald piece quotes a letter from Menino opining, "Allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong." Right or wrong, CVS has been making money off of sick people for as long as it's been functioning as a pharmacy. But despite the state health board's view that CVS's MinuteClinics could lessen inconvenience and serve "vulnerable populations," Menino feels that allowing them an expanded role in the city's medical structure would ultimately undermine Boston's health.

The mayor's leverage in the matter may come from an unlikely ally--nicotine addicts. The city's Public Health Commissioners are aligned with Menino in opposition to this and according to the Globe they have "instructed the health agency's attorney to investigate whether it could adopt regulations forbidding stores with clinics from selling tobacco products, forcing them to make an untenable financial choice."

If such a regulation is possible, would that stop CVS in its tobacco-pushing tracks? We're not experts (more like the level below beginner) on the economics of the pharmacy business, but it seems like the MinuteClinics would offer greater profit potential than the surplus from selling heavily taxed carcinogens.

More importantly, what's Menino's alternative for accessible, inexpensive health care? If the mayor is willing to combat the state board so fiercely, we hope he's working on an answer.

Image of today's Herald cover from the Herald website. Post contributed by Gerard Sloan.