Utah Low-Cost Health Clinics

Uninsured Spanish-speaking adults in Utah can get primary care at federally funded community health centers, also called federally qualified health centers. These clinics provide care regardless of a patient's ability to pay and use a sliding fee scale based on income. To find the nearest one, search the official Find a Health Center directory from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

What a Community Health Center Is

Community health centers are nonprofit clinics that receive HRSA funding to offer primary and preventive care in areas with high need. You do not need health insurance to be seen. Many also offer dental care, behavioral health and low-cost pharmacy services, and patients who do have Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance can use it there.

In Utah, the Association for Utah Community Health, the state association for these clinics, describes 14 health center organizations running dozens of clinic sites around the state. Examples include:

• Community Health Centers, Inc., which runs clinics in the Salt Lake area and says most of its staff speak Spanish
• Midtown Community Health Center, which opened its first clinic in Ogden and now has sites in Weber, Davis and Salt Lake counties, serving many patients who speak languages other than English
• Fourth Street Clinic in Salt Lake City, the operating name of Wasatch Homeless Health Care, which focuses on people experiencing homelessness

How the Sliding Fee Scale Works

HRSA requires each health center to run a sliding fee discount program based only on household income and family size, compared with the Federal Poverty Guidelines:

• If your income is at or below 100% of the guidelines, you receive a full discount, though the clinic may collect a nominal charge.
• If it is above 100% and at or below 200%, you receive a partial discount that shrinks as income rises.
• If it is above 200%, no sliding fee discount is offered.

The actual fees are set by each health center under these federal rules, and the poverty guidelines change every year. Ask the front desk for the sliding fee application, and check which proof of income and household size the clinic accepts before your visit.

Your Right to an Interpreter

Health programs that receive federal health funding, including community health centers, must take reasonable steps to give people with limited English proficiency meaningful access under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. Language help must be free of charge. The clinic should not rely on a relative or friend you bring to interpret unless you ask for that and it is appropriate, and should use a child only in an emergency while a qualified interpreter is found. If you believe you were denied language help, you can file a complaint with the HHS Office for Civil Rights.

The practical takeaway: search the HRSA directory by your address, check the clinic's own website for hours and services, and when you call or visit, ask for a Spanish-speaking staff member or a free interpreter and for the sliding fee application.