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Costco members now have access to $29 online health care visits
Retail giant Costco has teamed up with Sesame, a direct-to-consumer health care marketplace, to introduce a new health care service exclusively for its members across all 50 states (Kavilanz, 2023; Gibson, 2023).
Sesame, a New York-based start-up, gives consumers direct access to more than 10,000 health care providers that charge a cash price and do not accept nor require insurance. More than 100,000 patients have been treated by doctors found through Sesame (Kavilanz, 2023).
Under this partnership, Costco members across all 50 states now have access to the following Sesame services:
- $29 virtual primary care visit
- $79 virtual therapy visit
- $72 health check-up (standard health panel & consult)
- 10% off of all other Sesame services, including in-person appointments
Designed to appeal to uninsured Americans and individuals with high-deductible insurance plans who prefer to pay for healthcare services out of pocket, Sesame says it has "created an environment where providers actually compete to serve patients, regardless of their insurance status. The resulting competition lowers the price of care, drives complete price transparency, provides ready access to health providers (the majority of appointments on Sesame take place within two hours), and ensures a high-quality consumer experience with top-rated providers." (Kavilanz, 2023; Rosenfield, 2023)
Costco follows other major retailers in expanding into health care services. Walmart Inc. runs in-store medical clinics and in Amazon announced in August that its virtual clinic, Amazon Clinic, is now accessible nationwide. (Gibson, 2023)
Sources:
Kavilanz, P. (2023, September 25). CNN. Costco members now have access to $29 online health care visits. https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/25/business/costco-online-healthcare-members/index.html
Gibson, K. (2023, September 25). CBS News. Costco now offering virtual medical care for $29. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/costco-virtual-medical-checkups-for-29/
Rosenfield, L. (2023, September 24). Sesame. Sesame Announce New Partnership with Costco. https://sesamecare.com/blog/sesame-costco-partnership