Districts bet clinics may serve as antidote to surging costs
Three Michigan school districts have opened insurance-free health clinics, offering physician visits and prescriptions at no cost. At Corunna Public Schools, northwest of Lansing, the Plum Health clinic operates from a collection of converted high school classrooms on the district’s main campus.
On a recent day, physician assistant Shelley Littleton treated 13 patients at the clinic for conditions including poison ivy, pink eye, high blood pressure, and high anxiety. Patients handed over no copays and no deductibles, and each visit was scheduled for at least a half-hour.
The 13 patients also left with nearly $550 worth of free medications.
“What I love about it more than anything else is the ability to be seen and have a lengthy conversation,” said John Fattal, superintendent of Corunna Public Schools. “This is health care the way it’s supposed to be,” he said.
Corunna is one of three Michigan districts that have opened the clinics in a bet that the approach may serve as an antidote to surging health care costs.