Watch part two

Over the past year healthcare has become one of the greatest tests for Barack Obama, the US president.

He made reform of the system that leaves 47 million people uninsured his top domestic priority.

Congress passed two bills that are expected to be merged in the coming weeks. If Obama signs a final bill into law, he will be the first US president in a century to deliver on his promise of reform.

But many in his own Democratic party say the new measures fall short of his campaign promise to cover all Americans.

And on the right, Republicans say it will cost too much as the country tries to climb out of recession.

At the heart of the debate is whether there should be a public option - a government-run plan to compete with private insurers. One of the bills includes it, the other does not.

Al Jazeera travelled to Richmond, Virginia where we found some people struggling to cover their medical costs but divided over the best way to reform the system.

For all of them though, healthcare has become a matter of life and debt.

A matter of life and debt aired from Friday, January 1.