Add primary care to the long list of products and services Costco offers.
Costco announced a partnership with healthcare startup Sesame on September 25 that’ll position the warehouse store company to compete with a slew of other retailers investing in primary care, including Walmart, Walgreens, and CVS. Costco hopes to increase sales growth as pandemic-era sales slow, Bloomberg reported.
Through the partnership, Costco members will get discounted pricing on Sesame’s medical services, including $29 virtual primary care visits, $72 health checkups, $79 therapy sessions, and 10% off all other Sesame services.
New York City-based Sesame Health is a private equity-backed healthcare startup that has raised $75 million from investors including GV (formerly known as Google Ventures) and Virgin Group. It was valued at $175 million as of March 2022, according to Bloomberg.
On Sesame’s online platform, primary care doctors, nurse practitioners, and other providers choose their own prices for services and patients pay the providers directly, Bloomberg reported. Sesame, which entered the market in 2019 and offers both virtual and in-person services, doesn’t accept insurance—its stated mission is to treat uninsured people and those with high deductible health plans.
“By bringing marketplace dynamics to consumer healthcare for the first time, Sesame has created an environment where providers actually compete to serve patients, regardless of the patient’s insurance status,” according to the startup.
Around 3,500 providers are listed on Sesame’s online marketplace, and about half a million patients have been treated through the platform, Bloomberg reported.
While the Sesame partnership is the first time Costco has offered primary care services, the retailer has dabbled in the healthcare market before with in-store pharmacy and optometry services. Costco also bought a minority stake in pharmacy benefit manager Navitus Health in 2020.
Sesame and Costco did not disclose the deal’s financial terms.
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