This Revenue Stream is Working Wonders for Community Health, But Some States Want to Take it Away

Clinica Amistad is a free, volunteer-driven primary care clinic addressing the healthcare access gap for uninsured and underinsured residents, particularly among the Hispanic/Latine community. Operating on $600,000 or less per year, the clinic offers a wide range of services, including chronic disease management, behavioral health counseling, and a Spanish-language pre-diabetes education program. In 2024, the clinic served 956 patients across nearly 2,500 visits, with patient volume growing 10% since 2017.

Helpster Charity operates a tech-enabled emergency financing model that connects families facing urgent medical bills with donors through a website and app. The nonprofit uses volunteers stationed at partner health facilities to identify patients who can’t afford critical care for conditions like malaria, sickle cell anemia, and kidney problems. The organization has helped provide treatment for over 2,000 families across Nigeria, Kenya and Bangladesh.

A mobile diabetes clinic in Calgary brings comprehensive healthcare directly to people experiencing homelessness or low income at community health centers. The team provides services including foot care, retinal scans, blood and urine screening with immediate results, dietary counseling, and connections to housing and mental health programs. The "one-stop-shop" model eliminates the need for patients to travel to multiple appointments, ensuring they get the care they need.

The Anambra State Health Insurance Agency (ASHIA) extends health coverage to Nigeria's hard-to-reach groups by embedding insurance premiums into weekly transport worker fees and partnering with cooperatives and trade unions for group enrollment. It also offers an “Adoption Model" that allows donors to sponsor vulnerable residents' coverage. With 235,000 active enrollees, ASHIA has dramatically reduced out-of-pocket healthcare spending from 92.1% to just 10% for those enrolled and has also significantly increased the number of people who seek coverage.

The Cahaba Medical Care Clinic is a community health center providing care to rural residents in need. Rural areas are often designated as “medically underserved” regions, but Cahaba has helped increase access to affordable care, reduce the county’s infant mortality rate and even created a revolving door for new medical professionals as they established themselves as a teaching hospital. However, the current administration and DOGE threaten to dismantle the funding and necessary systems that make rural healthcare of this scale possible.

To streamline the process of getting people access to substance use treatment, Blue Mountain Heart to Heart implemented a new model allowing clients to get started with medication-assisted treatment right there at the clinic rather than waiting for referrals to other organizations. The clinic also helps connect clients to other services they may need for their physical and mental health. A study of the program found that patients served by the model had a 68 percent lower mortality rate than patients who were not.

Several doctors are working together to integrate oral health into medical checkups for children, pregnant women and others who can’t afford or access a dentist. With the help of a five-year, $6 million federal grant, a team of doctors and dental hygienists has trained 250 primary care providers in how to provide oral health care in several states, allowing patients to access dental care during regular checkups.

REACH (“Reaching Everyone with Accessible Community Health”) provides preventive and curative healthcare through a community-based health insurance initiative that offers different packages of care. Community members pay a monthly fee for the insurance, which gives them access to treatment for all ailments including prescription medicines. About 11,000 people are served locally by 22 community health workers but are referred to health clinics and hospitals for more serious issues. Partnerships with pharmaceutical companies and the nonprofit arm of a local clinic helps make treatment costs affordable.

Doctors and nurses with the Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria provide free specialized care to over 5,000 people at a local hospital. An annual CT scan monitors patients' risk of stroke, with those who are high-risk getting one every three months. The CT scans are provided at a highly subsidized cost because the machine was donated to the hospital. Patients with leg ulcers, a common ailment, are treated three times a week and given free supplies to clean wounds at home. The foundation does outreach to rural areas, where they have provided education, genetic counseling, and medical services to over 8,000 people.

Legacy of Legends, a nonprofit that helps families overcome traumatic experiences that often stem from poverty, opened the Frayser Clinic to provide free wellness exams to children. The clinic is run out of a local church and is open twice a month to help families access care. At each visit a doctor assesses a child’s physical health, mental and behavioral health and the clinic provides families with information about social services and connects them with a healthcare navigator, who helps families understand their child’s health insurance and reconnect them to a primary care physician.