What Makes Community Healthcare Sustainable? | Rising Costs, Access, and the Future of Care

What Makes Community Healthcare Sustainable? Across the country, conversations about healthcare are changing. Hospitals are reporting financial strain, clinics are closing, insurance premiums continue to rise, and many families are struggling to afford even basic medical care. At the same time, the cost of everyday life — food, fuel, housing, childcare, and transportation — continues to climb. For many people, … Read More

Why Americans Are Paying More for Health Insurance — But Still Avoiding Care

Why More Americans Are Paying More for Insurance — But Still Avoiding Care Health insurance is getting more expensive. However, for many families, higher premiums do not mean healthcare feels more affordable. According to KFF, average ACA Marketplace premium payments increased from $113 to $178 per month in 2026, a 58% increase. At the same time, many people shifted into … Read More

How Primary Care and Mental Health Work Together | Aslan Health

Mental Health Often Starts in Primary Care When people think about mental health care, they often picture a therapist’s office or a psychiatric clinic. However, for many people, the first conversation about anxiety, depression, stress, trauma, sleep problems, or emotional struggles happens in a primary care exam room. Primary care providers are often the front line of mental health care … Read More

What Happens When Communities Support Healthcare? | Aslan Health St. Cloud

What Happens When a Community Decides Healthcare Matters? Recently, there has been renewed discussion in Minnesota about hospital charity care, nonprofit tax status, and what communities should reasonably expect from healthcare systems that receive public support. That conversation reminded me of the book The People’s Hospital, which tells the story of Ben Taub Hospital and the larger Harris Health System … Read More

The Future of Primary Care: Why More Patients Are Paying Directly for Healthcare

The Changing Way Primary Care Is Paid For For decades, most people thought healthcare worked like this: you go to the doctor, the insurance company pays, and the patient covers a small copay. That model is changing. Across the country, primary care is moving toward a system where patients are paying directly for more of their care — either because … Read More

Minnesota’s Healthcare Safety Net Is Under Strain | Affordable Care Matters

Minnesota’s Healthcare Safety Net Is Under Strain — And Patients Are Feeling It Healthcare affordability is becoming one of the defining challenges facing Minnesota families. While many people assume that having insurance guarantees access to affordable care, the reality is often very different. Across the state, rising deductibles, higher monthly premiums, growing medical debt, and inconsistent financial assistance programs are … Read More

Free $20 Gift Card for Mammograms & Pap Tests in St. Cloud | Aslan Health

Why Women’s Cancer Screenings Matter — And How You Can Receive a $20 Gift Card Many women put off cancer screenings because life gets busy. Others avoid them because of cost, lack of insurance, fear, or simply not knowing when they are supposed to start. However, breast and cervical cancer screenings are some of the most important preventive health tools … Read More

Can Nicotine Cause Erectile Dysfunction? What Men Need to Know | Aslan Health

Can Nicotine Cause Erectile Dysfunction? Erectile dysfunction (ED) is often treated as an isolated issue. However, in reality, it’s usually a signal that something deeper is going on in the body. One of the most overlooked contributors is nicotine. Nicotine is commonly associated with cigarettes, but today it’s also found in vaping devices, pouches, and other products that many people … Read More

High-Quality Affordable Healthcare | Why Aslan Health Is Not a “Free Clinic”

High-Quality Healthcare—Not “Poverty Medicine” When people hear that a clinic offers affordable or charitable care, they often make an assumption: “This must be a free clinic… basic care… limited services… not the same as what I’d get elsewhere.” We understand where that perception comes from. But at Aslan Health, that is not who we are. We are not building a … Read More