The $499 Body Scan Wants Your HSA Dollars

Spotify founder Daniel Ek’s preventive-health startup landed in New York with a 25,000-person waiting list. The visit takes an hour, the bill takes HSA money — and HSA money is retirement money.

By Sean Anees Saifi · Capital Wealth · Published Thursday, October 1, 2026 · Source: The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, September 30, 2026 edition (Personal Journal, A10)

Key Points

Neko Health, the Swedish preventive-health startup co-founded by Spotify (SPOT) founder Daniel Ek, opened its first U.S. clinic in New York this month, Sara Ashley O’Brien reports — about 25,000 New Yorkers had joined the waiting list before the company even named the location.
Another 350,000 people are waiting worldwide, and the company just raised $700 million in fresh funding. The first clinic opened in Stockholm in 2023 before the brand expanded to the U.K.
The $499 visit — payable with HSA or FSA funds — covers a skin exam with visual and thermal cameras, a cardiovascular assessment, a body-composition analysis and on-site blood tests: about 30 minutes of scanning, then 30 with a clinician.
A Mount Sinai imaging director told the paper early detection shouldn’t be dismissed — but neither these scans nor full-body MRIs replace recommended cancer screening or the basics: blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes risk, exercise, smoking.
The same wellness wave includes sleep-score obsession — researchers coined orthosomnia in 2017 for the unhealthy pursuit of a perfect night’s sleep; Oura has faced pushback on its scores’ accuracy and stands behind its data.

$499

visit price, payable with HSA or FSA dollars

25,000

New Yorkers on the waiting list before the clinic was announced

350,000

more on the waiting list worldwide

$700M

fresh funding just raised by the company

A bright, spare clinic room with a single chair in soft morning light.

The waiting room reads like a gallery — and the bill routes through the same account as your retirement medical fund.

In one line: Neko’s $499 scan has a 25,000-person New York waiting list and takes HSA dollars — the account you’ll want most at 70.

The bathrobes are butter-yellow, the scanner is a 360-degree cylinder, and the posts are all over social media — tech and venture people getting early looks at Neko Health’s sleek first U.S. clinic in New York. The Swedish startup, co-founded by Spotify founder Daniel Ek, had about 25,000 New Yorkers on its waiting list before it even named the address, the Journal’s Sara Ashley O’Brien reports. Another 350,000 are waiting worldwide, and investors just added $700 million in fresh funding. Whatever this is, it isn’t a fad that’s struggling for demand.

The visit runs $499, and here’s the clause that earns it a page on a planning site: you can pay with HSA or FSA dollars. For that, the radiation-free hour covers a skin exam with visual and thermal cameras, a cardiovascular assessment, a body-composition analysis and on-site blood work — 30 minutes on the machines, then 30 with a clinician on the results. The pitch is early risk-spotting: skin cancer, heart disease, metabolic trouble.

The imaging expert’s homework question

Dr. Zahi Fayad, who directs the imaging institute at Mount Sinai’s medical school, doesn’t dismiss early detection — a competitor’s full-body MRI famously surfaced an actress’s slow-growing brain tumor. But his advice for would-be scanners starts with a question: “First, tell me what you are hoping to learn.” A symptom or a strong family history should point you to the specific test that addresses it. None of this, he told the paper, replaces recommended cancer screening or the unglamorous work — blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes risk, exercise, smoking. Even Neko concedes its data on returning patients’ improvements isn’t proof of cause.

The same newsletter visits the other end of the optimization aisle: sleep scores. Researchers coined a term in 2017 — orthosomnia — for the unhealthy preoccupation with a perfect night’s sleep, and sleep clinics now see patients arrive with trackers and spreadsheets. Oura, the ring maker, has faced pushback on its scores’ accuracy and stands behind its data. Somewhere between vigilance and performance, wellness became a dashboard.

Our read

Cash Flow (M5) and Insurance (M11): HSA money isn’t spending money that happens to dodge taxes — it’s the best-sheltered account most households own, and the medical bills of your 70s are coming either way. A $499 scan paid from the HSA is a withdrawal from that future, and a choice against nearer preventive care a doctor actually ordered. If one scan gets you engaged with your health, fine — that’s a real benefit. What it shouldn’t become is an annual wellness subscription quietly draining the account with the best tax treatment you’ll ever get.

Before the next shiny test, spend fifteen unglamorous minutes on what your HSA is invested in and what it needs to cover first. The most useful scan of your financial health is still the boring one — and that one’s free with a review.

What It Means For Your Portfolio

Hold — one scan is curiosity; an annual habit is a subscription on your HSA

The $499 visit is HSA-eligible, which makes it a retirement-account withdrawal in a butter-yellow bathrobe.

General planning principles, not advice for anyone in particular. HSA dollars compound tax-free for decades and are earmarked for medical bills that arrive on schedule in retirement — it’s the best-sheltered account most households own. A scan can earn its keep when you bring it a real question, and standard screenings come first either way.

Before a wellness brand becomes a standing charge against that account, vet it like any subscription: what it costs per year, what it replaces, and what those dollars would be worth at 70.