RACINE COUNTY — Families making it work without health insurance now have a greater chance of getting in yearly checkups.

A few months ago, for example, a family of four earning less than $3,031 per month had access to free and low-cost health care at the Health Care Network, 904 State St.

As of this spring, that maximum income increases to $4,042 per month for a family of four at the State Street clinic.

The Health Care Network at State Street can now afford to serve a greater portion of the population, while Kenosha Community Health Center will start a mobile clinic in Racine, thanks to $100,000 and $500,000 grants from Aurora Health Care, respectively.

Health Care Network already offers primary-care and dentist visits to Racine County residents with no medical or dental insurance who fall within 150 percent of the poverty line. This grant gives them funds to provide services to people within 200 percent of the poverty line for the next two years — reaching more people who may qualify for Affordable Care Act coverage but would be unable to afford the bills.

“People tout it like everyone has coverage,” said Alison Sergio, executive director for Health Care Network. “That’s just not the case.”

Because of the $100,000 grant from Aurora, Sergio said she expects Health Care Network will see 600 new clients in two years from these expanded qualifications.

An out-of-county low-cost health clinic, Kenosha Community Health Center, will take its services on the road with a mobile health center that will serve Racine County with a $500,000 grant from Aurora.

Mary Coffey, executive director of the center, said more details about the mobile clinic in Racine will come later in the summer.

To get free screenings and checkups from Health Care Network, clients had to be residents of Racine County who do not have medical or dental insurance, do not qualify for Badgercare, and fall into the income guidelines. Those income guidelines used to be limited to people within 150 percent of the poverty line — families of four making $36,375 or less.

The center then connects clients with doctors who are retired or volunteer services in their spare time.

Sergio said Health Care Network had to turn away many clients because they fell just above their previous cutoff but still could not face the high cost of insurance or medical bills.

“On paper they should be able to purchase plans, but in reality they really aren’t able to purchase,” Sergio said.

Racine County has a need for more access to primary-care physicians, which provide regular checkups and address possible medical issues before a patient has to be rushed to an emergency room, said both Sergio and Doug Koch, president of Aurora Health Care-Kenosha.

“We have evidence of that (need) just by the sheer volume of patients,” Koch said. “We are trying to bring on primary-care physicians.”

Aurora Health Care decided to invest $6.6 million total from its revenue and donations to similar free and low-cost primary care and behavioral health clinics throughout southeast Wisconsin, Koch said.

The $600,000 going to Racine County services also was intended to help those who lost health services when the Racine Community Health Center announced its closure in January, according to Koch and Sergio.

Most services through Health Care Network, from basic medical and dental checkups to more expensive procedures like MRIs and colonscopies, are free for patients, Sergio said, thanks to donated services from the center’s physicians. The only procedures a patient may have to pay a portion of the cost are for dental appliances such as braces or certain prescriptions, depending on the patient’s ability to pay, Sergio said.

The State Street center also dispenses some medications on site, for which it handles most costs, Sergio said.

Health care costs skyrocket when people defer checkups and have to be rushed to the hospital with grave illnesses.

“We can see those people on a regular basis to make sure they’re taking their medication, and doing what they need to do to make sure they don’t have these spikes and need to go to the emergency room,” Sergio said.

Health Care Network also is looking to hire a Spanish-speaking staff member to communicate with Hispanic clients and training staff to walk clients through the federal health insurance marketplace.

The center’s marketplace staff will be able to help explain insurance plans to clients without making judgment calls for them, even if a client would not qualify for service from Health Care Network, Sergio said.

“They may not be qualified to be served here, but they can come here and say ‘I’ve got this card, I don’t know what it means,’ and we can help them navigate the system.”

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