Urgent Care Takes a Run at Appealing to Gig Workers—and There Are a Lot of Them

A recent post on the Forbes website noted that 64% of gig workers (or contractors, full-time freelancers, independent workers…pick your favorite term) have no paid sick time. Considering that they make up around one-third of the U.S. workforce these days, that’s a lot of people stressed about staying well or getting well quickly if they do get sick. Their economic survival (and physical health, obviously) depends on it. The Urgent Care Association just forged a new strategic partnership with an eye toward hooking those prospective patients up with their local urgent care center. UCA is working with Mira, a company whose membership-based service provides members with more affordable access to preventive and urgent care than they’d find by paying for traditional health insurance or full-price health visits out of pocket. Those patients pay a fixed price for care related to influenza, women’s health, minor injury, and wound care, to name a few. Mira also markets its services to the 86 million Americans who either are uninsured or who pay high deductibles on their plans. UCA and Mira expect to launch their “network” November 1. For UCA, the initiative is an outgrowth of its Gateway2Better (G2B) initiative; for more information on that, click here. In addition, be mindful of opportunities to connect with gig workers locally by attending networking functions of local business groups.