Each day, some 14,000 Americans continue to lose their health insurance and very year, 18,000 Americans die because they don't have it. But, the fate of health care reform is now in the hands of the U.S. Senate after the House passed a sweeping reform last weekend.

We talked what two Missoula families would like to see what they’d like implemented in the new health care reform legislation as we continue our special Eye on Health Care series.

Missoula resident and mother of two, Amy Dupras, says that it's a gamble, because health care changes so much just depending on every little factor.

Insure Montana covers 60% of the health care needs for T.J. and Amy Dupras, as well as their two young sons. It is a new program administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield designed to assist small businesses with the cost of health insurance.

Amy says that she's hoping lawmakers see what Montana is doing and let us continue to do it because it's working. She adds that if there is a change, that it's to aid the program to be more successful and to not make it less successful.

Her husband, T.J., agrees saying that's a big concern. It's not that they're going to destroy the program, but that they're going to change the program that will make it too expensive or too useless, he continued.

Jason Barlow, is also a Missoula resident, and father of two, who thinks that if you are a taxpayer, you should be rewarded insurance. Jason and his wife, Saralyn, are struggling to find affordable health care coverage for their entire family. They have two young toddlers and another one on the way.

Jason says that he's for putting it on a certain scale, suggesting that if you make so much, then you would pay so much for insurance. Base it on a scale, he adds, that includes medical, dental and vision.

But right now, Congress is hung up on the so-called public-option, or government-run health care plan. Some Republicans say small businesses won't pay for health care for their employees when they can put them in a government-run program.

T.J. says he is concerned about the costs that are going to be involved and potentially the effects that it's going to have on the people that have normal insurance and are happy with it.

And, while these two families have very different health care needs, they both hope America's lawmakers can compromise on a health care plan that is suitable for all.

Amy says that if we can get everybody involved, then maybe we can get to a point where it's so affordable that it's not even a second thought. Meanwhile, Saralyn Barlow, thinks if everybody were to have health insurance, it would eventually level itself off. And, T.J. thinks that the only way for this program to be successful is for everybody to be involved, although he doesn't personally believe in mandates.

PART I: The White House is putting the pressure on both the House and Senate to come together and pass a health care reform bill by year's end.

The move comes as millions of American families search for an affordable health care plan that is already available.

We met with a pair of very similar, yet different, Missoula families who are getting by under the current system.

Saralyn Barlow is pregnant and glowing. She laughs as her 15 month old son, Zaiden, races in front of the camera. Her other son, 2 year old Alexander, sits behind the scenes while Grandma reads him a story.

Yes. She and her husband, Jason, live the American dream. And, yes. Like many American families, they struggle to find the perfect health care plan, one that suits their family's needs and one their family can afford.

Saralyn says that she currently does not have health insurance and because they just raised the CHIP income level, her boys now qualify for CHIP. But up until recently, she and her husband made too much money.  But yet, they can't afford health insurance.

Across town, Amy and T.J. Dupras make sure their two young sons, Rolly, 5, and Max, 8, eat a good breakfast. Rolly just had his tonsils and adenoids taken out, so he chews slowly.

Amy says that she works for a small business, so she and her husband qualify for the Insure Montana program, which is for businesses with two to nine employees. It’s basically a state-funded program where an employer pays a portion of the premium, an employee pays a portion of the premium, and that employee then gets reimbursed by the state of a portion of the premium.

T.J. also says that he works for a small business.  It does not have any health insurance, so his employers offer Aflac, which is supplemental insurance.

But, the Dupras were not always so optimistic about their health care coverage. Following several misdiagnoses, T.J. was finally treated for Guillain-Barre Syndrome where the body's immune system mistakenly attacks part of the nervous system. It leads to nerve inflammation that leads to weakness in the muscles, and that only gets worse.

T.J. says that if Blue Cross Blue Shield had not covered the expenses for Guillain-Barre Syndrome, his family would have basically gone bankrupt to cover the medical expenses. He says they are extremely happy with what they did for them.

Meanwhile, without health insurance for their entire family, the Barlow's are already implementing a financial plan for when Saralyn delivers her third child in just 4 months.

Saralyn says that they are having the small amount of medical costs taken out of their checks, so that way it does get paid. But, they've also been coming up with other ways to save money. For example, once the baby comes, such as they are not going to use disposable diapers anymore, they’ll use the reusable kind.

Saralyn adds that it's hard having to choose between staying home and raising your kids or paying somebody else to raise them just for insurance.