My name is Betty Casillas, I live in Bakersfield, California.  In 1996 I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  At that time we were self-employed and could not afford health insurance.  I was filled with fear.  I didn’t know where to go, so I went to my father.  My father had a retirement savings, and so he gave me the money to have a mastectomy.  It was a real hardship on him, because my mother had Alzheimer’s, and he was saving his money to make sure he was able to afford the care for her and himself, but he went ahead and gave me the money.

I found a surgeon who performed my surgery at a surgery center.  I went in at 8:00 in the morning, and came out at 5:00 o’clock p.m. that same evening.  I really wasn’t concerned about anything else, I was just so grateful to have had the surgery.  He took care of me for a year after that, and that’s highly unlikely, because surgeons don’t usually take care of you after the surgery, but he made sure I was all right for one year.  I’m now cancer free, but I worry, because as I get older, I worry that I won’t be able to afford health insurance. 

I worry that if my husband becomes ill or disabled, or passes on, there is no way I can afford the health premiums I pay now.  We pay 1,100 dollars a month, and we struggle each month to make those payments.  Five years ago, we were paying a little over 700 dollars, I had no co-pays.  Now, like I said, it’s 1,100 dollars a month, higher co-pays, and a higher deductible.  It’s very scary to have to live with the knowledge that you may not be able to afford health insurance if you do become ill.  It’s unbearable to have the fear of not knowing where to go, or who to ask for help.