well, karen golba is one of those families. the primary care physician for her son, her 12-year-old son, prescribed daily doses of a lot of medications. singular, alegra, two different kinds of inhalers. add these medications to the stratera he's taking to regulate a.d.d., you can see that access to medication is essential in the day-to-day life in this typical active 12-year-old boy in my home state of illinois. there's more to karen's story. karen has a stable full-time job earning a salary of $31,000 a year plus benefits. she falls right into the range of what we call middle-class working americans. at first karen's health insurance premiums were affordable. they reduced her paycheck by $52.50 twice a month. $105 a month. however, costs for that health care have risen dramatically over the last few years. karen is now paying over $300 a month for her premiums alone. remember, she makes $31,000 a year, gross. this doesn't include the $500 deductible for her share of costs for office visits and prescriptions. the yearly cost o