Sam’s Club launches pilot to help members defray healthcare costs

Walmart continues to dive deeper into healthcare and wellness, this time via its Sam’s Club. 

The warehouse club operator will offer its members four different bundled healthcare options that will help cover the costs of routine primary care, dental, optical and alternative medicine and also offer select free generics.  The program, called Sam’s Club Care Accelerator Together with Humana, will launch in early October in three states — Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina — with the potential to expand  nationwide in the future. 

The annual program fee, and the services offered, are dependent on the selected bundle. Prices range from $50 to $240, which covers up to six family members and also includes access to preventative lab screenings. (See end of article for a rundown on all four options.). 

Each bundle offers free prescriptions on certain generic medications. The generics available range from five to 20 of the most popular medications, with the number dependent on the bundle selected. All four bundles also include prepaid health debit cards to be used within the health services network of $5, $40 and $100, respectively, effectively lowering the total investment to $45, $60 or $140, depending on the bundle selected.

In a release announcing the program, Sam’s Club explained that Care Accelerator is designed for members with a “higher burden” of healthcare costs, including those with high deductible plans small business owners. The retailer noted is not a health insurance plan but a discount health program to help members save out-of-pocket costs on their most common healthcare service needs.   

“Care Accelerator members will be responsible for paying the provider the discounted rate at the time of service,” the company said.

Here is a review of the four bundles: