Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health Centers (RHCs)

There are over 13,500 federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and rural health centers (RHCs) available in the United States. Both types of centers are required by federal law to provide low cost healthcare, regardless of a client’s ability to pay or their health insurance policies to medically underserved areas (MUA) of the country. They accept Medicaid and Medicare insurance plans, and they cannot turn away a client who is unable to pay for services. FQHCs must provide services on a sliding fee scale with varying discounts available (based on patient family size and income in accordance with Federal poverty guidelines). And each center is required to provide comprehensive primary and preventative care services. FQHCs and RHCs receive federal funding under Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act. By law, they cannot provide abortion services. You can search for affordable local healthcare options at:

• HRSA Data Warehouse: https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/

• GetYourCare.org : http://getyourcare.org/

Government Benefits

To find information on available state health insurance programs, you can go to Benefits.gov and search for “Healthcare and Medical Assistance” in your state. You can choose to view all options, or select a subtopic, such as:

• HIV/AIDS

• Medicaid and Medicare

• Medicare Social Security

• Disability Assistance

• Veterans Health

• Children’s Health

• Counsel and Counseling

Student Healthcare Options

Most schools provide on campus healthcare for enrolled students. At the college-level, schools often also provide health insurance options. To adjust your school insurance policy, you will typically need to work with your health services office on campus. Most school insurance policies will provide links to their benefits plan. If you can’t find this, ask the health services staff for assistance. You may want to specifically inquire about maternity and whether or not students can add dependent children onto their policy.

4 Health Insurance Options for Student-Parents

Women Deserve Better (article)

“Young people are by far the least insured population in the US. Here are just a few tips for college students and specifically for pregnant and parenting students trying to navigate the wild world of health insurance…”