Retailers from Amazon to CVS are pushing deeper into healthcare. Now, Sam's Club wants to sell you cheaper care - and it shows that the healthcare wars are heating up.

• As the cost of healthcare in the US continues to rise, Walmart's Sam's Club chain just announced a new pilot program intended to offer care at affordable prices.
• Sam's Club is offering bundles that includes free generic medications, $1 digital doctor consults, and discounts on eye and dental care. They cost between $50 and $240 a year.
• The program will begin in three states next month and could eventually expand more broadly.
• Retailers like Amazon and CVS Health are making a push into healthcare. The move from Sam's Club shows how cost could play an important role.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Sam's Club is bringing the approach it's taken for paper towels and food to basic healthcare services, in a bid to make them more affordable to US customers.

The membership-only wholesaler, which is owned by Walmart, announced on Thursday a new pilot program that will give customers access to discounts on services like eye and dental care for between $50 and $240 a year.

All of the bundles will include some generic medications for free, and most will have online doctor consults available through startup 98point6 for $1. They'll begin rolling out in October in Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, with the potential for broader expansion.

"We believe this program will help our members decrease out-of-pocket costs so they can better manage their budgets and their health," Sam's Club SVP for Health & Wellness Lori Flees said in a statement.

Parent company Walmart is embarking on a broader push into the $3.5 trillion US healthcare industry, starting with a health clinic in Georgia. Walmart is also training employees to work in clinics and pharmacies.

Read more: Walmart is opening health clinics, but that's just the start. We got the full story from the exec leading its push into the $3.5 trillion US healthcare industry.

Cost could become key as Amazon and others dive deeper into healthcare

The move from Sam's Club shows how cost could become a major differentiator as the healthcare wars heat up, with retailers like Amazon and CVS expanding in the industry. This week alone, Amazon launched a pilot to give its employees access to virtual and in-home primary care, and Best Buy announced a push into health technology, which it said will be one of its key growth areas.

The idea of the Sam's Club bundles is to bring those who are uninsured, underinsured, or exposed to high healthcare costs because of a high-deductible health plan "the complete set of services that are needed for someone to have high-quality, basic primary care," 98point6 cofounder and CEO Robbie Cape told Business Insider.

"So it's really meant to be this sort of comprehensive front line of care to get people more engaged in their health," he said.

As part of the new pilot, Sam's Club also partnered with Humana to give members access to the health insurer's network of dental providers. The most expensive bundle, which costs $240 a year, is intended for families and covers a screening for early detection of heart disease and diabetes, a discount on hearing aids, and discounts on massage therapy, chiropractors, and acupuncture as well.

As tech begins to make an impact on the healthcare industry, facilitating virtual doctors visits and more, the traditional lines of the industry have been in flux, evolving and redrawing. Companies like Sam's Club clearly see that as an opportunity.

• Read more:
• Pharmacy startups are getting into the business of prescribing medications - and it shows how a new business model is taking over in healthcare
• Companies like Walmart, CVS, and Amazon are beefing up their healthcare strategies. Here are their plans to upend the $3.5 trillion industry.
• Amazon just launched a health clinic pilot program. It's the latest sign the company wants to upend US healthcare.

  Walmart is making a big push into healthcare. But first, it plans to train its employees to fill open spots in clinics and pharmacies.