INDIANAPOLIS — You've probably heard about prepaid phone calls, or prepaid gift cards for stores or restaurants.

But what about prepaid healthcare?

A new Indianapolis medical clinic, Indy Urgent Care, is using just that approach in providing routine doctor visits for the uninsured or people with catastrophic health coverage that doesn't pay for basic care.

Under its prepaid plan, membership costs $25 a month for each patient. A family of three would pay $75 a month in membership fees. After that, each visit costs $25.

The plan is one example of many business and government programs being developed to help an estimated 46 million people nationwide who are uninsured. Many others have limited health insurance coverage, such as plans with high out-of-pocket expenses for even basic medical care.

Dr. E. Stanley Kardatzke, the Indianapolis clinic's founder, said too many people with no coverage or limited health insurance forgo care until they have a dangerous and costly medical condition, or they crowd emergency rooms for routine care.

"My goal right now is to try to work and solve the immediate need we have with getting primary-care services to people who don't have access to them," Kardatzke said.

One national expert in the nation's healthcare system, though, said those without insurance may well want to spend their money trying to find coverage that would pay for major health expenses.

"Twenty-five dollars a month for primary care just strikes me as being expensive. How many office visits do people really use?" said Gary Claxton, a vice president with the Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington. "The reason people tend to buy health insurance is in case they get really sick and have really big expenses that can bankrupt them."

Indy Urgent Care, which opened late last year, is seeing 15 to 25 patients a day. Kardatzke said he is looking to build that number to 100 to 150 a day, with about half of those being members of the prepaid plan.

Kardatzke's experience includes being founder and chairman of Physician Corp. of America, an HMO that was sold to health insurer Humana for $270 million in 1997.

In many ways, his clinic is similar to other urgent-care centers. Patients may seek care without appointments from a doctor or nurse practitioner for ailments ranging from the flu to a sprained ankle. Indy Urgent Care also accepts many major insurance carriers, including Anthem.

For those on the prepaid plan, the monthly fee can be paid via a credit card or checking account or paid in person. Kardatzke said the clinic saves money by cutting down on paperwork from billing and claims.

In addition, Indy Urgent Care is offering its prepaid services to businesses that don't typically offer health insurance for primary care for their workers.

Indy Urgent Care members who need to see a specialist or require attention beyond what the clinic can provide would have no coverage. The program has no prescription drug plan.

Kardatzke said his service is not health insurance.

"I'm not paying their hospital bills," he said. "All I'm doing is offering them (a chance) to join a club."