As Medicaid Grows, Community Clinics Offer Insurance, Too

A small but growing number of community health centers are getting into the insurance business, some with for-profit arms, as the Affordable Care Act expands the pool of people eligible for Medicaid, Kaiser Health News reports.

Health centers in Florida, Maryland, Oregon, and elsewhere have started or taken stakes in commercial insurance plans, raising revenue that can be plowed back into care while reducing their reliance on policies set by other insurers, according to the health-news service (which is not affiliated with insurance giant Kaiser Permanente).

More centers are eying the for-profit model as Medicaid expands under the federal law and states look to shift enrollees into managed-care plans. Clinic officials say in-house insurance helps them resolve questions about benefits and services more easily and gives centers an incentive to keep patients healthy because the plans get a fixed fee from states for their care.