Spokane County, Wash., Doctors Create Network To Provide Services to Uninsured

A network of 60 doctors in Spokane County, Wash., have created a subscription-based program called Columbia Care to provide certain health services to some of the county's 33,000 uninsured residents, the Spokane Spokesman-Review reports. The program is aimed at county residents who do not qualify for public health programs and cannot afford employer-based insurance. Participants pay up to $25 per month based on their annual incomes, plus $5 per office visit, to receive primary care from the physicians, who work for 20 different medical practices in the area. Patients are billed by direct withdrawals from their bank accounts. Columbia Care does not cover certain medical services, such as X-rays, lab tests, prescription drugs, care from medical specialists or hospital stays. The Spokesman-Review reports that "[o]nly a handful" of people have enrolled in the program, which can accomodate 1,200 patients. Ben Peressini, director of health care economics for the Columbia Independent Practice Association, which created the network, said, "We don't want to say you're getting a Cadillac here. It's a good product for a small subset of people" (Johnson, Spokane Spokesman-Review, 4/2).