Our oldest kid came back from school with a terrible earache today. Given the time of day, it was too late to get into our primary care physician. My wife scheduled an appointment at our local CVS Minute Clinic for this evening, but I explored telehealth options first.
A few Google queries were rather unsuccessful, and I was about to give up hope when I came across a telehealth provider called Sesame, which has partnered with Costco to offer $29 telehealth visits: Sesame Telehealth with Costco Discount.
For those of us on high-deductible plans, the cost savings can be quite significant (for example, it costs us around $180 to see our primary care physician).
After entering symptoms (e.g., ear infection), a list of available providers appears. You can filter by specialty (e.g., family medicine, dermatology) and by provider type (NP or MD). Prescriptions are easily sent to the pharmacy of your choice.
Within just a few minutes, we were able to have a provider see my daughter and get medication sent over to our pharmacy.
Just thought I’d pass that along. It’s hard to beat access to an MD for $29 per visit for something simple, particularly after hours.
This is such a valuable tip! I had a similar situation with an ear pain and ended up going to a CVS Minute Clinic, which cost me over $120 just to get a prescription for antibiotics. Finding out about Sesame Telehealth and the Costco discount could save a lot of money, especially for those on high-deductible plans. Thanks for sharing this great find!
Thanks! Great to know.
Happy to help.
This is amazing, thank you! I recently had a hard time finding a cheap provider for an issue my wife was having. The worst is when you know exactly what’s wrong and what medicine you need, but the doctor is the gatekeeper to getting it.
Hope it works for you. It’s hard to believe you get access to an MD for $29. No nonsense.
This is really good, thanks for sharing. Totally agree with what Austin mentioned in his comment, there have been instances where I know/guess what I have (ear infection, strep, something minor) and all I need is a very quick prescription – my last 2 calls were less than 5 mins long and I was charged $100+ for each.
Happy to help. Hopefully you find it useful.
Agreed entirely.
The most infuriating part of the whole process for me was:
* Calling my insurance-blessed telehealth (Amwell) to ask for the price of a consult. Their online system quoted me at $0 which is nonsensical given our high deductible plan, so I had to call for clarification. Amwell told me to ask my insurance (BCBS). I called BCBS, they said they didn’t know and to call Amwell.
* Going on CVS’ website to get a quote for a simple minute clinic consultation and not finding anything definitive.
Sesame, particularly with the Costco discount, is as innovative a healthcare solution I’ve seen in my life. I’m a bit surprised I haven’t heard of them until now, which is roughly a year after they launched.
Are you sure teledoc visit isn’t free under your health plan? I don’t have the high deductible plan, but teledoc is free (no copay) for us.
I’m not sure. Neither was Amwell (our employer-blessed telehealth provider) when I called them. Neither was BCBS. They both told me to call the other for pricing info. My call to BCBS indicated that the quoted $0 copay was nonsensical for a HDHP, but they couldn’t clarify what the real price would be. I believe having a $0 copay for a HDHP telehealth visit violates federal rules surrounding HDHPs (which are supposed to get $0 benefits until deductible is met).
I’d rather pay the known $29 than be blindsided by a much larger bill.
Want to raise your blood pressure? Call a medical provider (or insurer) and ask what a simple (future) service will cost. Without fail, this activity has raised my blood pressure by many points over the past two decades each and every time I have tried.
Hence the excitement about a no-frills $29 solution, I suppose.
There was a safe harbor so that telehealth could be free even with an HDHP, but it expired on 12/31/24 (see IRS Pub 969). If your deductible-reset doesn’t follow the calendar year, it still might apply. An extension was in the original continuing resolution proposal last month, but that got dropped in the one that passed.
Thanks for the feedback!!! A real expert!
Our deductible reset on January 1st, so it seems we fall outside of the safe harbor rule.
Glad I wasn’t but with a surprise bill contradicting Amwell’s stated cost.
My telehealth appointment certainly wasn’t free in 2024.
Question: when you go to the walking clinic or use tele health, do you use your hdhp insurance plan or you say you don’t carry health insurance and pay cash?
We use our insurance.
What do you do? Pay cash price for a discount?
Thanks for the tip. A few years ago I set up an appointment at Walgreens for a sore throat that I suspected was Strep. We saw a nurse practitioner for 5 minutes who gave the strep test and confirmed it was positive and prescribed antibiotics. The bill for this ended up being over $200.
I have been fortunate not to need my health insurance (other than for preventative care) so far. We switched our children from the PPO plan to HDHP plan as they are no longer toddlers and are healthy children and after years of paying couple of thousands dollars in premiums and getting back one medical appointment, the annual wellness exam, a year. I asked the question to be prepared in case we need medical care. We’ll use telemedicine or the walking clinic and use our insurance then.Thank you!
That’s a great find, thank you for sharing! I wonder, could you at some point write about your way of engaging on bogleheads forum? How do you find interesting and useful topics there? I find I have to search for something very specific (and even then, it’s chore to sift through the comments) but I have a feeling I am missing out on learning about topics that didn’t occur to me search on.
Good question. I’m probably an anomaly but I find most of the Bogleheads forum to be really interesting.
The personal finance portion of the site is probably my favorite: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=fe0fd1630df47281b0071d54abba3244. I really like the variety of questions asked (insurance, credit card, estate planning, taxes, etc).
I find the investing portion of the site is probably my least favorite: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=10. I find almost nothing of value there. The exception might be the “brokerage bonus” thread which I follow with some regularity: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=196884. I always navigate to the last page to see the current deals.
I also really enjoy the Personal Consumer issues portion: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=11. I like hearing about the random stuff people are recommending (tv shows, products, vacation spots, etc). My trip to Alaska a few months was inspired by a Bogleheads thread here.
Overall, I fell like I’ve found my tribe in the Bogleheads. A group of smart and generous people who congregate on this weird site to share their knowledge (financial and otherwise). I haven’t found another place on the internet that has such a high signal/noise ratio for financial advice. The site is so good that I love going there for non-financial advice. Need a new lawnmower (or mattress or car) => go to site and use the search bar in top right to see what the Bogleheads have to say on the matter. Almost always I’m left with brilliant, unbiased advice.
Hope that helps.