Here's Why a Costco Membership Just Got Even Better

Costco membership gives you access to many great deals that can help you keep more money in your bank account. Beyond just buying bulk cereal or supersized bottles of ketchup, you can also break out your credit cards to purchase vacations, jewelry, and even cars at Costco. 

Costco is offering another important benefit to members that could make joining the warehouse club even more worthwhile. Here's what it is. 

Costco to offer low-cost medical visits to members

Costco will soon be a destination for medical care, as well as for Kirkland Signature products and its famous $1.50 hot dog and soda combination. 

The warehouse club has teamed up with Sesame, an online health marketplace that aims to offer affordable care to people with no insurance or with high insurance deductibles. Through this partnership, Costco members will be able to book in-person or virtual visits for medical care at a very low cost -- as long as they are willing to pay cash for their services instead of using health insurance coverage. 

Costco members will have access to "Sesame's best pricing" in all 50 states across the United States. This entitles warehouse club users to:

• A $29 virtual primary care visit
• A $72 health assessment, which includes running a standard lab panel and getting a follow-up with a provider via a virtual visit
• A $79 virtual mental health therapy visit
• 10% off in-person appointments booked through Sesame (in-person visits are also affordable -- for example, a doctor in Baltimore offers a visit for just $74 for Costco members) 
• 10% off other Sesame services 

Costco members who want to take advantage of this perk can go to the Costco website, enter their email address, and move forward with arranging a visit with a provider. In many cases, it's possible to get a same-day visit, or even on weekends or otherwise outside of standard business hours. 

Should you join Costco to take advantage of this new benefit? 

Many people struggle with getting access to healthcare, especially if they don't have good insurance. If you are not covered at all by a health insurance policy or if you have a very high deductible, you may be able to benefit from the Costco/Sesame partnership. 

However, you take a huge risk if you don't have insurance coverage. So the first step if you have no policy at all should be to visit HealthCare.gov and look into your options for getting insured. Not having coverage could lead to financial disaster if you get sick, and there are subsidies for those who struggle to afford insurance costs. Open enrollment for healthcare runs from Nov. 1, 2023 to Jan. 15, 2024, so now is a good time to start thinking about getting covered. 

If you have insurance but a very high deductible, or if you can't get coverage for some reason, then it's worth using the Sesame benefits if you are already a Costco member. 

If you aren't, then there's no reason to join the warehouse club just to gain access to these benefits since you could just book appointments directly through Sesame without paying the added costs of a Costco membership. You'd pay a little more without the Costco discounts (about $8 more for an in-person visit and around $9 or $10 more for telehealth). But unless you go to the doctor often, it's not enough to justify Costco's membership fees (which start at $60 annually).   

If you were on the fence about whether Costco could provide you with enough value, though, and you may need to pay cash for some medical care, then this new partnership with Sesame definitely sweetens the deal.