An audit of Obama's performance on his health care campaign promises

The National Journal assessed President Barack Obama's progress on his health care campaign promises and gave him a score of 47. "As a candidate, Barack Obama made a series of fairly specific promises on health care ($10 billion a year for health IT, loan forgiveness for rural doctors) and drew some bold lines in the sand (universal coverage, prohibitions on insurers from discriminating).

After a year in which the compromises of Congress required him to bend and sway on the specifics of reform, he's probably glad he didn't make any more promises than he did. The expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program in February moved him closer to completing his pledge to insure all children, adding 4 million uninsured youngsters to the program's rolls. … But Obama can't claim any significant victory until the House and Senate versions of health care reform bills are reconciled and sent to his desk." The National Journal details "some of the public promises Obama made after his election and how they played into the health care debate" (1/4).