Non-profit health centers enter insurance realm

The nation's 1,200 non-profit community health centers receive strong federal support to treat millions of uninsured residents, but still face financial challenges. Some are responding with an unusual strategy — starting for-profit insurance plans. In 2008, the Jessie Trice Community Health Center in Miami invested $120,000 to start Prestige Health Choice, a for-profit Medicaid health plan that the state pays a flat monthly fee per enrollee to provide care. Fourteen other community health centers also participated. In 2013, Jessie Trice got a $759,000 payout after Florida Blue, the state's largest insurer, bought a minority ownership stake. Jessie Trice used part of that windfall to open a health center in suburban Miami and to convert an existing facility into a dental clinic.