Al Carey

Al's health care plan works just fine. The problem is that he has to pay $300 a month for it and it provides zero coverage for his son.

The medication needed to keep Al's diabetes in check costs almost $100 each month. Then, there are his son's needs. He wears glasses - which are costly both to buy and replace - and he has asthma, which further sets Al back when he replaces his inhalers.

Al and his son have been living in a San Leandro two-bedroom apartment for seven months. When they first moved in, Al was on his company's Kaiser plan and wasn't paying monthly for health insurance. He purposely chose this apartment for the increased space and improved neighborhood. A few months later, Al's contractor changed the health plan and his apartment became a huge burden. Now, Al feels better about the neighborhood in which his son lives, but must work longer hours to pay the rent, which cuts into the father-son time they both value so much.

As a single parent working in the private security industry, Al hasn't been able to make ends meet, no matter how well he plans, how much he budgets, or how hard he works.When I moved into my apartment, we weren't paying anything [for health insurance], but in May they rescinded that. I moved into that apartment thinking I could afford [it] and now I'm 300 a month less and that has changed everything