Costco is set to trial the sale of Medicare plans — with the same brand trust shoppers have for its roast chicken

The franchise is doing so in partnership with California-based SCAN Group, a California-based nonprofit that provides an array of healthcare services to older Americans, including insurance plans.

“We’re trying to create a win-win,” SCAN Health Plan CEO Sachin H. Jain told USA Today.

“Something that was going to be good for seniors, good for SCAN and good for Costco.”

Jain said he pitched the idea to Costco because of the warehouse club’s reputation with older Americans and its reach. According to Numerator, one in three Costco members is a Boomer, many of whom qualify for or are already enrolled in Medicare plans.

Costco’s Senior Vice President for Pharmacy Richard Stephens told the Wall Street Journal that the company aims to build on its reputation for reliability — the same thing that draws customers back for its beloved rotisserie chicken and Kirkland products — with the insurance product.

As Stephens said, customers “know that if they buy something from Costco, it has been vetted, and [they] feel it’s the best thing in the category.”

‘Brilliant marketing’

Carrie Graham, Director of the Medicare Policy Initiative at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reform (CHIR), told Moneywise that the idea is a piece of “brilliant marketing,” citing her father’s belief that Costco products are “the best quality.”

“There’s a really strong trust in the brand, especially among older adults,” she said.

She noted that it is a great way to expand Costco’s pharmacy, vision, hearing and over-the-counter products, adding that the chain has a well-earned reputation for offering drugs at affordable prices.

In April, Elizabeth Warren invoked Costco when she told the Senate Finance Committee that a generic prescription for the heartburn medication pantoprazole (brand name Protonix) costs $16.99 at Costco compared to $200 for the brand name on the federal TrumpRx prescription site.