MILWAUKEE (CBS 58 NEWS) - The Bread of Healing Clinic has three locations across the city of Milwaukee and provides people with access to free treatment and medicine.

As health insurance increases for thousands of people in Wisconsin, the clinic is preparing for a jump in demand for health care.

“All of us are realistically a paycheck or two away from needing a free clinic,” Bread of Healing Clinic Medical Director Barbara Horner-Ibler said. “There will be more uninsured, we are having more phone calls with people that we’re trying to fit in with the clinic.”

The clinic uses 65 volunteers but is looking for more with the expected jump in demand.

“We do not want people to feel that they do not have access and that’s why we’re trying to get them here, this access to health care,” Horner-Ibler said.

The clinic sees around 2,500 patients throughout the span of a year, with a percentage of them relying on ACA benefits.

“We expect many of those patients will be coming back to us,” Horner-Ibler said. “They know we’re here and they fortunately know where to come.”

As the new year begins, the clinic is already seeing wait times for appointments get moved back with more patients coming in.

“We really watch how long it takes to get a new patient in and usually for a long time it was next week,” Horner-Ibler said. “Now it’s 2 or 3 weeks.”