What is direct primary care, and how is it different from concierge medicine?

Direct primary care (DPC) is a membership model: a flat monthly fee replaces insurance billing for primary care, giving you longer visits, direct messaging, and no copays. Concierge medicine typically charges a high annual retainer and still bills your insurance. DPC removes the insurance layer entirely, which is what makes Aspen Health affordable and simple.

How much does membership cost?

Aspen Health has three plans: Core ($100/month, adults 21+), Premium ($150/month, adults 21+), and Youth ($50/month, ages 6-20). A one-time onboarding fee applies ($300 adults, $100 youth), charged with your first month at enrollment. Membership requires a 6-month minimum, then continues month-to-month.

Do I still need health insurance?

Yes, keep it. Aspen Health is your primary care home, not insurance. Your membership covers everyday primary care: visits, messaging, and ongoing access. You'll still use insurance for hospitals, the ER, specialists, imaging, and prescriptions.

Can I use my HSA or FSA?

Yes. As of January 1, 2026, federal law confirms DPC membership fees are HSA-eligible, subject to a monthly cap of $150 per individual. Both Core and Premium fall within that cap. We can provide documentation if your HSA/FSA administrator requires it.

Do you bill insurance, or accept Medicare/Medicaid?

We don't bill insurance for membership, which is what lets us offer longer visits and direct access with no copays. Aspen has opted out of Medicare and Medicaid billing, but you're welcome to join regardless of status. We can provide a superbill for possible out-of-network reimbursement if your plan allows.

What's included in my membership?

Unlimited fair-use visits in-person and video, unlimited secure messaging, rapid in-office testing, group education sessions, and access to health coaching. Most routine labs, imaging, and prescriptions are referred to third parties and billed directly by them, often at discounted cash-pay member rates.

How fast can I be seen, and how do I reach Dr. Benson?

Urgent visits are generally available within 24 hours most days. You can message your doctor directly through the secure portal, with responses typically the same business day and no later than 72 hours. Messaging isn't monitored overnight or weekends.

Do you offer telemedicine, and where?

Yes. Dr. Benson offers secure video visits for patients physically located in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. At least one in-person visit per year is strongly encouraged for best care.

What conditions do you treat, and what's your approach?

Aspen is a full primary care home with a focus on lifestyle-responsive and chronic issues: weight and metabolic health, gut health, thyroid and hormones, cardiometabolic risk, autoimmune conditions, fatigue, sleep, allergies, and mental health, plus routine preventive care. Treatment starts with lifestyle, adding medication when clinically needed.

Do you prescribe medications and order labs?

Yes. Dr. Benson prescribes when clinically indicated and manages chronic-condition medications, filled at your pharmacy of choice. Routine labs are referred to certified third-party labs; rapid in-office tests are included.

What if I need a specialist, hospital care, or imaging?

Those run through your insurance, as in any practice. Dr. Benson helps arrange referrals, shares clinical context with specialists, and follows up on results. Members also have access to discounted cash-pay imaging and lab referrals through network partners.

How do I cancel, and what's the commitment?

Membership requires a 6-month minimum commitment. After that, it's month-to-month and cancellable with 30 days notice. Early cancellation within the first six months requires paying the remaining balance. If you rejoin after cancelling, a $300 re-onboarding fee applies.

Central NJ Residents: Your HSA Can Now Cover Direct Primary Care

Jul 1

Written By Jay Benson

If you've opened a health insurance bill lately, you already know something's changed. Premiums are up, deductibles are brutal, and getting a timely answer from your doctor can feel like a project. You're not imagining it. Since January 2026, nearly 70,000 New Jersey residents dropped their coverage entirely because it became unaffordable after federal subsidies expired.

But something shifted this year that hasn't gotten nearly enough attention — and if you have an HSA, it's worth knowing about.

What changed

Starting January 1, 2026, you can use your HSA to help pay for a Direct Primary Care membership with pre-tax dollars. That's new. Before this year, a DPC membership could actually disqualify you from contributing to your HSA — an odd tax quirk that forced people to choose between two good things. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 2025, fixed that.

The limits: up to $150/month for an individual, $300/month for a family, indexed to inflation.

For someone in the 24% tax bracket, that's roughly a 24% discount on the same membership — just by routing the dollars correctly.

What Direct Primary Care actually is

DPC is straightforward. One flat monthly fee covers your primary care — checkups, sick visits, chronic condition management, and direct access to your doctor — typically without copays or surprise bills. No insurance maze, no phone trees.

In practice it means longer appointments, same-day visits when you actually need them, and a doctor who's read your chart before you walk in. That's not a luxury — it's just what medicine looks like when a practice isn't built around volume.

One thing a lot of articles get wrong

The new law doesn't automatically make you HSA-eligible. It removes a barrier — it doesn't hand you an account.

To contribute to an HSA, you still need a qualifying high-deductible health plan (HDHP) underneath it. DPC covers primary care; it's not the catastrophic coverage HSA rules require. So read it this way: if you already have an HSA-qualified HDHP, you can now pair a DPC membership with it — without losing your HSA status — and pay the membership fee with pre-tax dollars. Not sure what kind of plan you have? HR or a tax advisor can confirm in minutes.

How it pencils out for a Central NJ professional

Think about a healthy person in their 40s working somewhere in Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, or Somerset County. They're carrying a pricey low-deductible plan mostly just in case. That plan has gotten a lot more expensive — NJ marketplace premiums climbed sharply into 2026 after enhanced subsidies lapsed, and roughly 450,000 NJ public workers are bracing for another year of double-digit hikes.

For someone like that, a different combination often makes more sense: a lower-premium HDHP for the big, unexpected stuff — paired with an HSA — paired with a DPC membership for all the everyday care. Lower premiums free up cash, the HSA gives you a tax break, and the DPC membership covers what you'll actually use most.

The outcomes data backs this up. An independent, risk-adjusted study from the Society of Actuaries found that employees in DPC had 40.5% fewer ER visits and 12.6% lower overall healthcare demand than those in traditional plans. And here's the part that surprised me when I read it: even after adding the membership fee, the employer's total net cost stayed essentially flat. So for nearly the same overall spend, people got dramatically better access: longer visits, same-day care, fewer trips to the ER. The study was based on a single employer, so individual results will vary — but for a healthy person paying their own way and pairing DPC with an HDHP and HSA, the math can work out very well. Imagine how much better these statistics could be with a DPC that emphasizes Lifestyle Medicine like Aspen Health.

A quick closing thought

Healthcare in New Jersey feels harder than it should right now. But buried inside this year's changes is something genuinely useful — a way to get unhurried, personal primary care and pay for it with dollars you may already be setting aside.

If you've been curious about whether DPC makes sense for your situation, this is a good time to have that conversation. Whether you're already a member wondering how this fits your finances, or you're somewhere across Central NJ wondering if DPC could work for your family — the door is more open than it's ever been. Reach out anytime.

— Jay Benson, DO
Founder, Aspen Health | Princeton, NJ

References

1. New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA). "Nearly 70,000 NJ Residents Drop Health Insurance Due to Higher Premiums." April 2026. njbia.org

2. Internal Revenue Service. "Treasury, IRS provide guidance on new tax benefits for Health Savings Account participants under the One Big Beautiful Bill." December 2025. irs.gov

3. American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). "Direct Primary Care (DPC)." aafp.org

4. Stinson LLP. "Unpacking the One Big Beautiful Bill's Employee Benefit Provisions" (HSA eligibility still requires a qualifying HDHP). stinson.com

5. NorthJersey.com. "See how much your NJ Affordable Care Act premiums soar as federal tax credits disappear." October 2025. northjersey.com

6. NJ.com. "This stunning cost crisis is driving N.J. public workers to the breaking point." June 2026. nj.com

7. Society of Actuaries & Milliman. "Direct Primary Care: Evaluating a New Model of Delivery and Financing." May 2020 (risk-adjusted study: -40.51% ER visits and -12.64% overall demand for care, at an essentially flat employer net cost of about +1.3%). soa.org

Jay Benson