Direct primary care for teachers is a monthly membership that gives you direct access to a primary care provider by text, phone, or visit, without running each appointment through insurance. At our Lake City practice, Basic Care is $60 a month, and it works alongside your school health plan and around a school schedule.
If you work in a school, you already know that you can’t take a phone call between 8:00 AM and 3:00 PM. That’s the part most people miss about the job. Most medical offices open after your first bell and close not long after your last one, so the refill waits, the cough you have had for two weeks waits, and when it can’t wait any longer you put in for a personal day and spend a good part of it in a waiting room.
We hear this often from the school staff we care for, and it is the reason we wanted to put everything in one place. If you teach, drive a bus, run a front office, or work a cafeteria line in Columbia County, here is how a membership works, what it costs, and where it fits next to the coverage you already have.
Why Is It So Hard to See a Provider When You Work in a School?
The short answer is that the school day and the clinic day happen during the same hours. Many jobs allow you to step out for a 10:30 appointment or return a nurse’s call from your desk. Yours doesn’t. You have a room full of students, a route to run, or a lunch line that starts on time with or without you, and finding coverage for a single hour can be harder than the appointment itself.
So healthcare for teachers tends to become whatever is left over. You put things off, you save your leave for your own children’s sick days and field trips, and when something finally has to be dealt with, you see whoever has an opening at an urgent care on a Saturday and explain your history from the beginning to someone you will likely never see again.
None of that means you’re careless about your health. It means the system keeps hours that don’t match yours, and that’s a problem a different kind of practice can solve.
What Is Direct Primary Care, and How Does It Work for Teachers?
Direct primary care, often shortened to DPC, is a membership-based model of primary care. You pay a flat monthly fee directly to the practice, and that fee covers your primary care. The American Academy of Family Physicians describes the model as one where patients pay a periodic fee directly to their primary care practice in exchange for a defined set of services.
At Silique Wellness, a Basic Care membership includes:
- Office, online, and telephone visits
- An annual physical
- After-hours care
- Text availability with your provider
- Lab work at cost
- Discounted medications
For someone on a school schedule, how you reach us matters more than the list itself. You don’t have to be free during office hours to get an answer. You send a message when you’re able to, and a provider who already knows you and your history responds.
Our care is led by nurse practitioners. Deonna Willis, APRN, MSN, FNP-C, founded the practice with her sister, and our providers are nurse practitioners who live and work in this community. If the model is new to you, our plain guide to how direct primary care works covers the basics in more detail.
What Does a School Day Look Like With a Membership?
This is the part that’s hard to picture from a benefits summary, so here is how it tends to work across an ordinary school day.
- Before the first bell. You wake up with a sore throat and a full day of classes ahead of you. You text us before you leave the house, and you may have an answer, or a plan to come by later, before your first block begins.
- During the planning period. Twenty-five minutes isn’t enough time to drive anywhere, but it is plenty for a phone or online visit. Much of what primary care handles, such as a medication question, a rash, or a follow-up on lab results, doesn’t require you to be in the building.
- After dismissal. You can call at 3:15 and talk to someone who knows your name and your history. If you need to be seen in person, we work to get you in after school so that the visit doesn’t cost you a day of leave.
- Evenings and weekends. After-hours care is part of the membership, which means the fever that shows up on a Sunday evening doesn’t have to turn into a Monday morning scramble for a substitute.
If that sounds like the kind of care you have been missing, you can see what our membership includes or call us at (386) 243-8991. Individual membership spots are currently full and new individual applicants join a waitlist, so reach out and we will tell you where things stand.
How Much Does Direct Primary Care Cost on a School Salary?
We publish our prices, because you should not have to call an office to find out whether something fits your budget.
| Membership | Monthly cost | What is included |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Care | $60 | Office, online, and telephone visits, an annual physical, after-hours care, text availability, labs at cost, discounted medications |
| Premium Care | $120 | Everything in Basic, plus a weight-loss consultation, monthly body analysis, integrative health, hormone health, and one basic blood panel each year |
There’s a one-time membership fee of $75 when you enroll, and visits aren’t billed one at a time. For the full breakdown, including what the fee doesn’t cover, you can read our direct primary care pricing guide.
Do You Still Need Your School Health Insurance?
Yes, and we’d never suggest that you drop it. A membership isn’t health insurance. Under Florida Statute 624.27, a direct health care agreement isn’t insurance and isn’t regulated as insurance. It covers primary care, and it doesn’t cover:
- Hospital stays, surgery, or emergency care
- Specialist visits and imaging
- Anything that requires a hospital or a surgeon
That’s the honest trade-off, and we’d rather you hear it from us first. A membership is a monthly cost on top of whatever you already pay toward your plan at work.
The two do different jobs and tend to work best together. Your insurance is there for the large, rare, expensive events. Your membership covers the part of healthcare you actually use throughout the year: the sinus infection, the blood pressure check, the refill, the question you’d otherwise carry around for a month. Many people with good coverage still struggle to get in to see anyone, and access is what a membership provides.
Can You Pay for a Membership With an HSA?
In many cases you can, and this is a recent change. Starting January 1, 2026, a direct primary care membership no longer prevents you from contributing to a health savings account, and the monthly fee can be paid with HSA dollars. The IRS laid out the details in Notice 2026-5. The monthly fee has to be $150 or less for one person, or $300 or less for an arrangement covering more than one person. Our monthly fees are under those dollar limits, though the rule carries other conditions as well.
There are two cautions worth knowing. You can only have an HSA if you’re enrolled in a qualifying high-deductible health plan, and not every employer offers one. We can’t speak to what any school district’s plan includes, so your benefits office is the right place to ask. We’re also not tax advisors, so please confirm your own situation with your HSA administrator before you count on it.
What About Bus Drivers, Paraprofessionals, and Part-Time Staff?
Schools run on far more people than the ones with a classroom key. Bus drivers, paraprofessionals, cafeteria staff, custodians, front office staff, coaches, substitutes, and part-time college instructors all work the same unforgiving hours. Some of those roles come with benefits, and some don’t.
If you’re in a role without employer coverage, a membership gives you a primary care provider and a predictable monthly cost for everyday care. It still isn’t insurance, so we’d encourage you to pair it with coverage for emergencies and hospital care, and we’re glad to talk through how other members have set that up.
If you do have benefits, direct primary care for school staff works the same way it does for anyone else, which is alongside your plan.
Can a School Offer Memberships to Its Whole Staff?
It can. Direct primary care for school employees can be set up through the employer, and our corporate partnership program is open to schools, childcare centers, and other education employers. Employer accounts are typically $50 or less per employee each month, compared with $60 for an individual membership.
For a principal or a head of school, the appeal is practical. Staff who can reach a provider before the first bell don’t have to choose between their health and their classroom. If you’d like to talk about your team, call us at (386) 243-8991.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is direct primary care health insurance?
No. Direct primary care is a membership that covers primary care services for a flat monthly fee. In Florida, a direct health care agreement isn’t insurance under Statute 624.27. It doesn’t cover hospital stays, emergency care, surgery, or specialists, so we recommend keeping your health plan alongside it.
What are the downsides of direct primary care for teachers?
The main one is cost. A membership is an added monthly fee on top of what you already pay toward your school health plan, and it doesn’t replace that plan. It also doesn’t cover specialists, imaging, or hospital care. What it adds is access to a provider you can reach outside of school hours.
How much does direct primary care cost per month?
At our Lake City practice, Basic Care is $60 a month and Premium Care is $120 a month, with a one-time $75 membership fee. Employer accounts, including schools that enroll their staff, are typically $50 or less per employee.
Do teachers get free healthcare?
It depends on the employer. Many school employers pay part of the premium for the employee, and adding a spouse or children usually costs more. Your benefits office has the real numbers for your plan. A membership doesn’t change your coverage. What changes is how easily you can reach a provider.
Can I enroll in the middle of the school year?
There’s no enrollment window to wait for, so timing isn’t the obstacle. Individual membership spots are currently full, and new individual applicants are added to our waitlist, so the honest answer is that it depends on availability when you reach out. Employer accounts are a separate track and are open now.
Somebody Should Be Looking After You, Too
You spend all day paying attention to other people’s children. Somebody should be paying attention to you.
If you work in a school in Columbia County, Suwannee County, or anywhere nearby, we’d love to care for you. Take a look at our direct primary care membership, call us at (386) 243-8991, or send a note to our Lake City office. We’re easy to reach, which is sort of the whole point.