PORTLAND (AP) - Oregonians without health insurance are more likely to go without necessary medical care than residents in nearly any other state, according to a new study.

More than half of uninsured Oregonians - 56 percent - say they cannot afford a visit to the doctor when they need it, the study reports. That was the second-highest percentage of uninsured people reported to be going without care in the country, closely following West Virginia.

“This certainly isn't a competition you want to win,” said Elaine Arkin, director of Cover the Uninsured Week.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a private health care research organization, analyzed 2004 government data to make the findings, which were released today in anticipation of Cover the Uninsured Week in May. The event is a national campaign to raise awareness of the problems of the uninsured.

U.S. Census figures show that 591,000 Oregonians are without health insurance.

Many of these people are skipping necessary preventive care, according to the foundation's study. For example, 62 percent of women ages 40-64 have not had a mammogram in the past two years.