Grading President Obama’s Performance – 2009-2012

To be toasted and roasted at the same time is a lost art.

Anonymous

February 20, 2012 – It’s President’s Day. I take this occasion to grade President Obama’s performance over the last three years based on a toast I gave to him in my 2009 book Obama, Doctors, and Health Reform (IUniverse, 2009). The grades are A (exceptional or superior ), B (good or satisfactory), C(adequate or average). D ( inferior or subpar), F (failure), and I (Incomplete). This is a subjective exercise and represents the views of one doctor.

A Toast for President Obama (2009): Retrospective Evaluation

To the fulfillment of your dream - A

To the content of your character-B+

To hope - C-

To change – C-

To vision – B

To audacity – C

To equality – B

To selflessness – C-

To unity – F

To fairness – C

To idealism – B

To realism – D

To coverage for all –I

To access for all – I

To more doctors with more access – D-

To healers of every specialty – C-

To the sick in need of care – B+

To affordable care – D-

To health care savings accounts – F

To clinical information systems – B+

To more prevention – B

To more personal responsibility – C-

To the right foods – B

To more exercise – B

To no smoking – D

To less obesity and diabetes – B

To less chronic disease – B

To better outcomes – B

To comprehensive care – B

To coordinated care – B

To top-down dispensation – A

To bottom-up innovation – D+

To doctor accountability – B

To financial transparency – D

To multicultural fluency – A-

To freedom to choose – D+

To freedom to pay – D+

To free exercise of judgment – C-

To revamped Medicare doctor pay – D-

To reasonable Medicare reimbursement – D-

To malpractice reform – F

To clinical collaboration - B-

To respect for markets – F

To less intrusive government – F

To feasible individualism – C

To reasonable collectivism – C-

To less regulations and hassles – F

To a sustainable health system – D+

To the end of free entitlements – F

To economic recovery - C-

To you and your family – A

To your health – A

To the health of the nation – C

To fiscal sanity – D-

To the preservation of capitalism – D-
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Overall grade, based on average of above - C

Tweet: Based on health reform performance from 2009-2012, President Obama deserves an overall grade of C, with less favorable for Rx of physicians.