Armando Luke walked out of one of the buildings at the Golden Valley Health Center in Merced on Thursday carrying a note with his prescription.

It had been a long time since Luke had gone to seek medical care. His visit to the health center was because of a staph infection on his right arm.

“This is the first visit in probably five years,” the 20-year-old Atwater resident said as he looked at a red swollen bump on his arm.

Luke said the main reason for not frequenting a doctor’s office on a regular basis is because of the cost — he lacks health insurance.

And he’s not alone.

An estimated 59.1 million Americans reported having no health coverage in the first quarter of 2010 — and the number of uninsured is expected to grow.

People in all income levels have been affected, not just those living in poverty.

Those were the findings in a report released this week by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number of uninsured people in the country rose from 58.7 million in 2009, and 56.4 million in 2008, according the report.

Out of the 58.7 uninsured in 2009, 48.6 million, or 83 percent, were between the ages of 18 and 64. That age group had family incomes two to three times the federal poverty level — between $43,000 and $65,000 — for a family of four.

The report also indicated that a 28 percent of the uninsured between the ages of 18 and 64 were seven times more likely not to get health care services they needed because of the cost.

Luke said not having health insurance makes it hard to pay out-of-pocket for basic health services. He said even paying for the services in separate payments can sometimes be tough.

Luke is a full-time employee. His employer, Select Staffing, doesn’t provide him health insurance, and he makes less than $1,000 per month. “I don’t make that much to afford health insurance,” he said.

But it’s important that people, even those without insurance, receive preventive health care. Carmella Gutierrez, president of Californians for Patient Care, said forgoing preventive care can lead to serious illnesses. It also results in a much larger expense.

Californians for Patient Care offers free resources to help people in California avoid situations where they end up in the emergency room because their health has deteriorated. Gutierrez said the nonprofit was established in 2004 to ensure that all people in the state have equal access for health services.

“We offer our help with resources,” she added. “We have an online directory that connects people in Merced and in the state with low-cost health services in the community. In Merced, they can find a variety of resources they would have not known about before.”

The directory includes listings of clinics, health centers, and county health services, such as mental health services and social services, among others, Gutierrez said.
About 20 community clinics in Merced are listed in the nonprofit’s database.

This is the only nonprofit in the state that provides such resources, Gutierrez said.

“People can click on it in the privacy of their home,” she added. “The idea is to empower people with information so that they can get preventive care.”

Gutierrez said in today’s recession “people are losing their jobs and their health care, and they feel that they have no other place to go.

“We believe that by giving people information, they can take action, and by using the health resource database, they can find the care they need.”

Reporter Yesenia Amaro can be reached at (209) 388-6507, or yamaro@mercedsun-star.com.