The Neko scan — Spotify for longevity — is designed to be fast, convenient, and cool. But is it value $499?

It's sleek, Swedish, comparatively affordable, and designed for efficiency. Oh, and the color scheme? Yellow and blue.

No, it's not Ikea. It's Neko Health — the three-year-old healthcare brainchild of Spotify cofounder Daniel Ek — a new annual go-to longevity checkup for skin cancer, bosom health, and more.

Up and operating in Stockholm since 2023 and London since 2024, the medicinal center is beginning its doors in the US this week, alongside a archetypal location in New York City's SoHo.

Already, 25,000 group have joined a waitlist in New York, and Neko plans to open additional US locations soon, alongside their second set for Miami this fall.

Business Insider got a complimentary sneak preview of the Neko scan onward of the initiate on Thursday.

It's slick and high-tech, includes at smallest 20-30 minutes of norm period alongside a doctor, and comes alongside a transparent $499 out-of-pocket cost tag.

Was it cool? Yes. Was it quick? Sure. Do I have notes? A few.

What Neko delivers is not that distinct from what's covered at a free, preventive annual doctor's exam. It's the engaging, tech-forward cognition that makes Neko a merchandise complete 100,000 Europeans have already decided is value the additional expense.

A fancy, tech-forward way to inspect on your heart, skin, and build shape

When I stepped into Neko's New York clinic, I felt akin I was entering several benevolent of high-end boutique for your body — complete alongside a gentle yellow robe, satin tress tie, and foamy blue slippers.

The check-up started alongside Neko's flagship build scan, which collects thousands of pictures of your naked build to survey for skin malignancy and provides several data on your body fat distribution.

After you're rear in your gown and lying downward on a extremely comfortable exam table, a technician takes blood pressure readings, cuffing not fair one arm, but all four of your limbs, to measure how fine lifeblood is flowing through your arteries.

Then there's several fast bloodwork for cholesterol, lifeblood sugar, and more, a grip power test, EKG measurements for bosom health, and an eye force exam.

Most of these are diagnostics you could have had done at a decent chief attention office, and they would not have disbursal item near to $499. (Under the Affordable Care Act, annual preventive checkups are free, as lengthy as you remain in-network.)

The key difference is that Neko promises your results volition be delivered in under an hr and presented to you in an unrushed, data-heavy, easy-to-digest conversation alongside a doctor after you've been examined.

No need for previous authority to command labs, or doctors' offices chasing downward patients to conversation concerning results. It's one-stop buying for health.

That consumer-focused method is critical, stated Zen Chu, the department director of MIT's healthcare ventures course, who is not affiliated alongside Neko Health. It can create patients additional receptive to a doctor's direction and additional busy alongside their own health.

"That's what we've been instruction for 15 years," Chu said. "We need to redesign these experiences in healthcare, and those are enormous, multibillion-dollar opportunities, equal whenever you're not changing the underlying technologies."

The sojourn summary includes charts forecasting your forthcoming health, and (what I considered) horrifying, aggressively exact mockups of your current build shape, showing all curve and ripple on your frame. It's all meant to compel group into lifestyle changes that can forestall several of the most average chronic health issues afterward in life, including bosom sickness and diabetes.

As person alongside a family former of melanoma, the skin scan may have been the most precious part of my Neko visit. Skin scanning for malignancy is important, and it can be difficult to keep track of how your own moles are evolving complete time.

About a week and a fractional following my scan, a delegate from Neko called to say that among the moles on my torso warranted additional inquiry by a dermatologist. Fewer than 1 in 10 Neko customers are referred out to an external provider for several follow-up, and apparently, I'm one of those few.

If it turns out that Neko can additional effortlessly nexus me alongside a dermatology project and cut the representative monthslong delay for a period slot, that's arguably value it for me, although it's a pricey way to get skin malignancy screening, which typically ranges from liberated to under $100 alongside insurance.

The Neko scan is way additional fun than going to the doctor

Neko gets a few uncomplicated things correct that "normal" chief attention could study from. First and foremost: the apparent concentration on a beautifully designed merchandise that can propel group into meaningful action.

According to Neko's latest "year three" report, according to results from 80,000 people, members who scan themselves annually at Neko lean to create meaningful improvements to their bosom health, lowering lifeblood pressure, improving cholesterol, and stabilizing lifeblood sugar.

The inspect isn't meant to substitute traditional hospital attention — lone 1% of Neko customers acknowledge item life-threatening akin a grave bosom matter or late-stage skin malignancy hiding out in their body.

My Neko provider's biggest involvement was my "elevated lifeblood pressure" — I don't normally have elevated lifeblood pressure, so he stated it was likely fair "white coat syndrome," or doctor's-office nerves, and that I should redo my study later.

My verdict: I could discover improved ways to expend $500 on my health

If I had $500 additional to expend on my health, I'd likely skip Neko and get a gym affiliation first, afterward regard a DEXA scan (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) to track my build construction in finer detail.

If I was concerned concerning cancer, I'd go for a full-body MRI to get a improved image of what's going on inner me.

"Cash pay care is among the biggest trends coming in American healthcare complete the next decade, and Neko is one of many examples of that," Chu said.

Neko's scan is a lot of fun, but for anyone who's already slightly conscious of their health and wellness, it remains a small too basic.

This part is not a substitute for expert medicinal advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your qualified doctor or healthcare provider.