The Doctor Will See You Now... At Costco: Retailer Partners With Healthcare Startup

Big box retailer Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) is best known for its oversized items that allow customers to load up in bulk on food and household items. The company also offers its share of extra items like televisions, insurance plans, auto services, and a $1.50 hot dog and drink combo.

The company offers optical eye-care services and is now expanding into the telehealth industry to offer additional medical benefits to members.

What Happened: Costco is set to announce fourth quarter financial results Tuesday after market close and may find itself answering questions about healthcare thanks to a new partnership.

Costco is teaming up with Sesame, a healthcare marketplace company that launched in 2019, to offer affordable healthcare to its members.

“Accessing healthcare should be as easy and affordable as shopping at Costco – and for Costco member, it now is,” Sesame announced.

The partnership will see discount pricing offered to all Costco members for outpatient medical care offered by Sesame.

“Quality, great value and low price are what the Costco brand is known for,” Sesame’s co-founder and CEO David Goldhill said. “When it comes to health care, Sesame also delivers high quality and great value – and a low price that will be appreciated by Costco Members when it comes to their own care.”

Under the partnership, Costco members in all 50 states will get benefits like the following:

• Virtual primary care: $29
• Health check-ups: $72
• Virtual mental health therapy: $79

Sesame has a network of healthcare providers in all 50 states. The company caters to people with no insurance or high-deductible plans.

Sesame secured $27 million in a Series B investment round in June 2022 that was led by Google Ventures, the venture arm of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL).

Related Link: Costco High Member Loyalty Is A Win: Analyst Keeps Company In Outperform Lane 

Why It’s Important: Under the partnership, Costco is able to offer low-price healthcare services that can be done virtually or in-person with a provider.

The news from Costco follows a trend of retailers gaining entry into the healthcare and virtual healthcare fields.

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) has explored several healthcare initiatives and recently completed the acquisition of One Medical for $3.9 billion to expand its offerings.

With the new partnership, Costco has another benefit it can offer to its members who pay an annual fee.

Costco ended the third quarter with 853 total warehouse stores, with 587 located in the United States and Puerto Rico.

COST Price Action: Costco shares are down 1% to $555.88 on Tuesday versus a 52-week trading range of $447.90 to $571.16.

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