NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — When a doctor spotted a lump on Alisha McNamara’s lungs earlier this year, she and her husband Michael started panicking.

The couple had gotten rid of their health insurance when sales at their Fayetteville, Ark. pizza shop, Bariola’s Pizza, started sliding last year.

For two months, they agonized over how they were going to afford the MRI and other tests that the doctor said Alisha needed, until they remembered their stash of “Trade Dollars,” a local currency used in the Fayetteville area.

The currency, issued by a company called Local Trade Partners, allows local business owners to exchange goods and services without using U.S. dollars. An auto repair man could earn Trade Dollars by fixing someone’s car, for example, and then use the Trade Dollars he earned to buy a pizza at Bariola’s. The McNamaras could then use the currency at other local businesses that accept it, including a handful of medical care providers. Full Story

With a record number of Americans going without health insurance, alternative currencies like Trade Dollars have become one of the few ways the uninsured can afford much-needed health care.