First as a candidate and then in the early days of his tenure, President Barack Obama proposed big changes for the U.S. healthcare system. They mostly consisted of slogans and promises, lacking much specificity as to how his plan could guarantee insurance, lower premiums, and protect individual choices all at the same time.

Nevertheless, his party and the media cheered him on. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously argued at the time, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”