Costco Jumps on the Weight-Loss Bandwagon

Those long lines for $1.50 hot dog meals may be shrinking, but Costco could soon see a queue starting for its newest service: weight-loss management. CBS News reports that the warehouse retailer has teamed up with health care marketplace Sesame to offer Costco members access to a program that could include weight-loss drugs like Ozempic.

• Details: Members are now able to register for the service, which runs $179 for three months, not counting the cost of any medications that may be prescribed. The program includes video consultations with a weight-loss specialist, unlimited messaging with a health care provider for support, and access to weight-loss meds, if a patient is eligible, per CNN. Sesame says it can prescribe injectable semaglutides like Ozempic and Wegovy or oral medications.

• Accessibility: CNN notes that while more affluent patients have been accessing weight-loss drugs for a while, Costco hopes its newest offering will open the door to even more people. "Obesity is prevalent across every socioeconomic status in America. There are a lot of people who have this interest and who have this need and we saw that in the data," Sesame co-founder Michael Botta tells CNN.
• Drug costs: Still, meds available through this renewable program are in addition to the $179 three-month fee, and it doesn't look cheap. Sesame notes on its site that GLP-1 drugs like this can cost between $950 and $1,600 per month without insurance.
• Partnership: Costco and Sesame also teamed up last year to offer $29 visits with a primary care doctor. This latest initiative came about due to customer inquiries. "The No. 1 search term of Costco members seeking primary care on Sesame was around weight-loss," Sesame CEO David Goldhill tells USA Today.
• The future: JPMorgan researchers predict that nearly 10% of the US population, or about 30 million people, may be taking GLP-1 drugs by 2030, per CNN.