Walmart and SCAN Plan to Sell Medicare Advantage Together
Walmart and nonprofit insurer SCAN Health Plan are teaming up to sell Medicare Advantage plans, private plans that replace traditional Medicare under a government contract. The partnership was reported September 16, 2026. Bloomberg
Distribution is expected to run through Walmart's insurance arm. Walmart Insurance Services LLC is a licensed insurance agency. Walmart Walmart had previously said it would sell Medicare insurance plans in 50 states and Washington, D.C. Reuters
This follows earlier pairings tied to Walmart stores and pharmacy traffic. Clover Health announced a plan with Walmart to launch Medicare Advantage plans in October 2020. Walmart and UnitedHealth Group announced a collaboration on affordable care in September 2022. Walmart Beginning in January 2023, that was to include a co-branded UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plan in Georgia.
Walmart has added benefit help and care around that footprint. With NationsBenefits it helps Medicare Advantage customers use supplemental health allowances for everyday wellness purchases. Walmart With Soda Health it launched the Walmart Everyday Health Signals program for select Medicare Advantage and Medicaid members. Business Wire Walmart Health centers in Florida and Georgia offer comprehensive value-based care, where pay is tied partly to results, to certain Medicare Advantage patients. Walmart More recently, Walmart and Sam's Club announced a nationwide effort to help Medicare beneficiaries understand new prescription weight-management coverage. Business Wire
SCAN is also working with another retailer. SCAN and Costco are working together on insurance products and will sell joint Medicare Advantage plans. Becker's Payer Costco will add Medicare Advantage plans to its offerings. Morningstar
The broader pattern here is familiar. Walmart supplies shoppers, foot traffic and a register where supplemental benefits can be spent. SCAN supplies the Medicare contract, doctor network, risk adjustment — the health-based math behind government payments — and compliance. Co-branding shares the trust in both names.
The broader context here is distribution cost and benefit use. For payers, a store tie-up turns weekly shopping into sign-ups. For retailers, pharmacy and grocery trips turn into plan choices and benefit dollars spent in-store. The economics rest less on headline enrollment than on activation and redemption rates for over-the-counter, food and wellness allowances.
Looking at what this means for costs and loyalty, the Costco track matters. SCAN working with both Walmart and Costco points to a repeatable template, not a one-off pilot. The questions are practical: how service, network adequacy, Star quality operations and supplemental-benefit costs are split, how churn — members leaving — behaves when choice follows shopping habits, and whether Florida and Georgia clinics can link tightly enough to new members to slow medical-cost growth.
