If your business is providing a Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) insurance plan to meet ACA requirements, but your employees still feel dissatisfied with their healthcare benefits, it’s likely because most MEC plans don’t offer access to meaningful primary care. Employees want to know that if they get sick, need a prescription, or have a health concern, they can easily get the everyday care they need—without long wait times, high out-of-pocket costs, or confusing networks.
So, how do you offer that kind of benefit without paying the high premiums tied to traditional group health plans from major carriers like Aetna or UnitedHealthcare? That’s where Direct Primary Care (DPC) comes in. In this article, we’ll explain what Direct Primary Care (DPC) is, how it works, and how you can give employees access to quality primary care while keeping costs low for your budget and staying fully ACA-compliant.
Why Primary Care Access Matters More Than Ever
Before we dive into Direct Primary Care, let’s talk about what primary care is—and why it plays such a critical role in both individual health and employer-provided benefits. Primary care is the first line of defense when someone gets sick, needs a prescription, or has a health concern that doesn’t require urgent care or a specialist. It’s also where preventive care takes place—checkups, screenings, and early interventions that prevent small issues from becoming big, expensive problems.
In the United States, access to primary care is largely dependent on employer-sponsored health insurance plans. A recent report from the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) found that one-third of Americans lacked access to primary care in 2023. That’s more than 100 million people without a primary care provider, including one in four children.
So, what happens when people don’t have access to primary care? They delay care. They skip visits. And over time, small health issues turn into major problems, leading to more missed workdays, higher healthcare costs, and worse outcomes overall. The people most affected by this gap? Typically, these include hourly workers, part-time employees, and individuals working for small businesses. Many small and mid-sized employers simply can’t afford to offer traditional group health insurance. And even when they can, MEC plans—while ACA-compliant—often don’t offer sufficient primary care access due to high deductibles, copays, or limited provider networks.
As a result, employees are left with coverage they either can’t afford to use or don’t understand how to navigate. Even with a traditional group plan in place, some employees still opt out because the premiums and out-of-pocket costs are too high. In an effort to create a more affordable, accessible solution, physicians banded together and pioneered a different approach—one that removed insurance from the equation entirely. By charging a simple monthly fee, providers could focus more on care and less on paperwork, while patients gained reliable access to the services they actually needed. That model became known as Direct Primary Care.
Let’s explore how DPC is helping solve the primary care crisis—and why more employers are turning to it as a better healthcare benefit.
Understanding Direct Primary Care (DPC)
Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a subscription-based healthcare model that gives employees unlimited access to essential primary care services without going through traditional insurance. It also gives employers a more predictable, manageable way to offer healthcare, especially when paired with a MEC plan for compliance. Instead of billing insurance for each visit, DPC operates on a flat monthly fee that covers most of the everyday care people actually use. For employees, that means no copays, no deductibles, and no surprise bills. For employers, it means a predictable cost structure and a benefit employees truly value and use.
How DPC solves common healthcare challenges
DPC is designed to solve many of the issues that have made traditional healthcare frustrating and expensive.
DPC eliminates:
- Long wait times for appointments
- High out-of-pocket costs
- Confusing insurance networks
- Delays in care due to cost or access
- Burnout among primary care providers
- Administrative burdens
- Not enough time spent with patients
- Unnecessary in-person visits
- A disconnect between physician and patient
By addressing these core issues, DPC not only improves the employee’s experience but also helps employers reduce healthcare-related costs, absenteeism, and turnover. It’s a benefit that works better, because it’s built for how people actually use healthcare.
What does DPC cover?
Most DPC memberships include access to:
- Routine checkups and sick visits
- Care for minor injuries or illnesses
- Help managing chronic conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure
- Mental health support
- Basic lab work and screenings
- Care coordination and referrals to specialists
- Prescription access—including 1,000+ common medications at no cost
- Communication with a dedicated provider
- Free coverage for dependents
While DPC is not a replacement for insurance, it works perfectly alongside a MEC plan to ensure ACA compliance. The MEC plan covers preventive services and emergencies, while the DPC membership handles the primary care employees use day-to-day, creating a comprehensive solution at a fraction of the cost of traditional group health insurance.
Healthcare: The Way It Always Should Have Been
For too long, traditional healthcare has been expensive, confusing, and hard to access, especially for hourly, part-time, and uninsured workers. That’s why more employers are turning to DPC to provide their teams with better health benefits.
Vitable is the health benefits platform built to make that possible. We deliver healthcare the way it should be—accessible, affordable, and designed around the everyday needs of working people. By partnering directly with employers, we make it easy to offer real care that employees actually use, trust, and value.
At the heart of every Vitable plan is our enhanced Primary Care membership. It’s not an add-on or optional feature—it’s the foundation of what we do. We make primary care a focus because we believe it’s the most effective, people-first way to deliver everyday healthcare. We’re on a mission to serve the 85 million uninsured and underinsured Americans by making high-quality care more accessible and affordable.
Vitable is a better experience for employees, and a smarter, more sustainable solution for employers.
Benefits of Vitable’s Direct Primary Care Membership
By removing the red tape and rethinking how care is delivered, DPC creates a better experience for employees, employers, and physicians. The impact is evident in lower costs, improved outcomes, and a stronger, more loyal workforce. That’s why every Vitable plan includes our enhanced Primary Care membership.
What employees get
When employees have access to DPC, they don’t have to worry about cost, coverage limitations, or long waits. They know they can get care when they need it. That confidence leads to better health and higher job satisfaction.
DPC benefits for employees include:
- Unlimited in-home or virtual visits with a provider
- Same- or next-day appointments
- Access to 1,000+ common prescriptions at no cost
- Routine care like sick visits, checkups, and chronic condition support
- Mental health care and women’s health services
- $0 copays and no deductibles
- Coverage for dependents is included for free
What employers gain
Vitable gives employers a smarter way to offer health benefits. By covering everyday care through our DPC membership and pairing it with one of our MEC plans or Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA), companies can remain ACA-compliant while lowering healthcare costs and improving employee well-being. Whether your business is self-funded or fully insured, Vitable works alongside your existing benefits structure to simplify benefit administration and deliver real value.
DPC benefits for employers include:
- Simplified benefits administration
- Predictable, monthly flat-rate pricing model
- Plans starting as low as $1 per employee per day
- Fewer high-cost claims by reducing urgent care and ER visits
- Easy-to-use digital employer dashboard
- Open enrollment support managed by Vitable’s dedicated team
- Streamlined employee onboarding and TB testing
- Increased employee retention and productivity
- ACA-compliant plans that help prevent costly IRS penalties
- Stronger recruitment, especially for hard-to-staff roles
Making the Switch to DPC with Vitable Health
Whether you’re a small business wanting to provide meaningful health coverage or a larger organization looking to supplement existing benefits, DPC offers a more sustainable path to delivering real healthcare, without the high cost or administrative burden of traditional plans.
Ready to start offering better benefits? Get a free quote today!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Direct Primary Care (DPC) and traditional health insurance?
Direct Primary Care is not insurance. It’s a flat-rate, subscription-based model that gives employees unlimited access to everyday care like sick visits, checkups, chronic condition management, and prescriptions. Traditional insurance, on the other hand, is typically used for major medical expenses, emergencies, and hospitalizations—and often comes with high deductibles, copays, and confusing networks.
Does Direct Primary Care meet ACA requirements on its own?
No. While DPC provides valuable access to everyday care, it does not meet the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirements by itself. However, when paired with a Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) plan, it becomes part of a compliant and comprehensive healthcare solution for your workforce.
Do MEC plans cover primary care services?
Most MEC plans only cover preventive services—like annual checkups, screenings, and vaccinations—as required under the ACA. They do not typically include coverage for sick visits, chronic condition management, prescriptions, or ongoing primary care. That’s why many employers pair MEC plans with DPC memberships to provide more meaningful coverage.
Who benefits from Direct Primary Care?
Both employees and employers. Employees get fast, easy, and affordable access to care they’ll actually use. Employers reduce healthcare costs, boost retention, and offer a competitive benefit without the high cost of traditional group insurance.
