LONG BEACH - Sam's Club announced this week that it will begin offering a $99 per month healthcare prevention plan to its customers.The plan is not health insurance but rather a personalized health program that provides customers tools to monitor their own health. Customers also receive access to a 24/7 nurse line, two health coaching sessions and health alerts based on age, gender and risks. Sam's Club, a division of WalMart, will begin selling the program in stores by May. It is already available for purchase online. "The aim of the prevention plan is to keep individuals healthy, identify illness early rather than wait for symptoms to develop and assist in chronic care management such as for diabetes or heart disease," Christopher Fey, CEO of U.S. Preventive Medicine, which administers the program, told CNN. "Think of it as what a financial planner does. He takes all the information you provide, assesses the risk and gives you a plan on how to improve your financial health. The prevention plan does a similar thing, but for your [personal] health."

********** Published: January 13, 2011 - Volume 9 - Issue 39