If you have 45 minutes to kill, you can listen here (http://dpcare.org/wa_health_underwriters) to a Seattle doctor talk about the issues, his company's approach, and why direct primary care is such a good thing. He advocates concierge care as opposed to the Walmart care discussed in the article, and I find the approach to be more sound. His approach is like Performace Based Logistics for medicine--the doctor that keeps you healthier makes more money, and I like that incentive. Nonetheless, both his solution and the Walmart solution are attempts at taking advantage of the same idea: paying directly for primary care can both lower costs and improve quality because the time and money required to pay for routine things with insurance is so terribly high.
I am convinced we are witnessing the birth of a revolution in medical care. I pay out of pocket for primary care, even though my insurance would cover everything if I went to a traditional provider. The new way is that much better than the old way -- and that cheap.