Current Clients

Who are you seeing at the clinic now? I am asked that question frequently. Now that everyone – in theory – has access to healthcare, who are we serving?

It has been an interesting journey – from anticipation to implementation – of the healthcare law. Connie and I became Certified Application Counselors in order to assist those looking to purchase healthcare insurance; we had very mixed results – some success, some who couldn’t afford to purchase the insurance that was offered. There were some who were skeptical about the whole process – they didn’t trust the system or didn’t understand what insurance would do for them.

Then, April 1, 2014 finally arrived and we were able to sign people up for the Healthy Michigan Plan (HMP), which is Michigan’s version of the Medicaid Expansion, a key part of the Affordable Care Act. It has been beyond our wildest imagination. From January to April we were seeing an average of 65 patients each week; we are now seeing an average of 31. And lately, that number is dropping.

So, who do we see? We see people who have fallen through the cracks – maybe they don’t qualify for Medicaid, but cannot afford insurance; maybe they were not aware of Medicaid expansion or the fact that this program is very different from the Medicaid of the past, so we provide them with healthcare, and we help them enroll in the Healthy Michigan Plan. We see immigrants, who have not lived in the country long enough to qualify for any of the programs; we see those who have enrolled in HMP, but have not received their insurance card in the mail – or who can’t get an appointment for another month; we see those that are new to our community and have no healthcare insurance. We are seeing fewer with chronic conditions and more with acute conditions. Most of the people we see are working and need to be healthy to keep their jobs.

We continue to help with enrollment; we are teaching those newly insured how to be healthcare consumers; we are offering smoking cessation sessions; we are going to start a program this fall or winter helping people make better lifestyle choices.

The clinic will be here as long as there is a need in our community. Our mission has always been to fill the gap in healthcare in our community. The gap has changed, but the fact that there is a gap has not.

Honestly, I feel like I can take a breath – we are able to be more present to those who walk through our doors when we are not so overwhelmed by the numbers. We can teach, we can listen, and we can provide a better quality service.