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Costco will now sell Medicare along with your $1.50 hot dog.
The warehouse retailer is partnering with nonprofit insurer SCAN Group to sell Costco-branded Medicare plans, starting with a limited rollout in just two states, plus a Medicare supplement product in a third, according to the Wall Street Journal. Nationally, Medicare is a more than $600 billion business for insurers. The three target markets cover roughly 5 million Medicare enrollees, though the companies wouldn’t disclose exact locations while approval from federal regulators is pending.
It’s the latest example of Costco branching out well beyond groceries and bulk toilet paper. The company already sells travel packages and has been building standalone gas stations after running out of room for pumps at its existing lots. Membership won’t get shoppers a discount on the Medicare plans (that’s against federal rules) but the products will be sold in Costco stores alongside the usual insurance agents and websites.
SCAN CEO Sachin Jain said the plans are designed to tie closely into Costco’s existing pharmacy, vision and hearing offerings. “We are trying to create something that’s incredibly simple for people to use,” he said. Costco executives are treating the whole thing as a pilot. “We plan to learn a lot from it,” said Richard Stephens, the company’s senior vice president for pharmacy.