I don’t really know Sesame but they started about five years ago by David Goldhill who wrote Catastrophic Care: How American Health Care Killed My Father–and How We Can Fix It. Here is a summary of them:
New York City-based Sesame launched in 2019 to connect patients to in-person and virtual care using a direct-pay model. The company built a two-sided marketplace for patients and healthcare providers. As a cash-pay business, Sesame aims to address the healthcare needs of uninsured consumers and those with high-deductible plans.
The Sesame marketplace is comprised of primary care doctors and nurse practitioners as well as more than 40 health specialties, labs and imaging centers and is inclusive of both virtual and in-person care, according to the company. The company says its marketplace gives consumers direct access to more than 10,000 healthcare providers that charge a cash price and do not accept nor require insurance, and more than 100,000 patients have been treated by doctors found through Sesame.
My gut feeling is that the above numbers are inflated and they were really not getting anywhere. The answer? Bend over for Costco. Remember, all VCs want 10X on their money and Goldhill promised to work on the broken healthcare system. Unfortunately, making this deal with Costo is not fixing it.
The big-box retailer teamed up with startup Sesame to offer special discount pricing to Costco members on a broad range of outpatient medical care services, including telehealth visits. Costco members nationally can book appointments directly through their Costco memberships for Sesame’s “best pricing” including virtual primary care visits for $29 and online mental health therapy visits for $79.
So, there you have it folks. Somehow, David Goldshill thinks a primary care visit is worth $29, which is basically the same as their hot dog and soda combo. I will just say there is no worse feeling than being devalued so thanks, David! Oh, and Sesame (pronounced Sell Out) is obviously not going to find doctors to do this. It will be nondoctors and assistants to the nondoctor that will fill this role. Great job, Dave, you truly understand the benefit of good physician care. How many people will think their $29 visit will help them and how many things will be missed because of this garbage mockery? My bet is someone will be able to write the book in the future: