In the UK we take the free universal healthcare of the NHS for granted, but things could not be more different across the pond.

Health care reform was the first big policy deal taken on by the Obama administration. In 2010, many said the young president bet the mid-term elections, and possibly his presidency, on the outcome.

In this recent investigation, FRONTLINE goes behind closed doors at the White House, in Congress and the boardrooms of the giant health-care lobby to examine the political battles and costly compromises that defined Barak Obama's endeavor.

From early positive efforts, through the bitter battles with the Tea Party, the elation of apparent success at Christmas, to the crushing failure in the Massachusetts Senatorial election, FRONTLINE follows the story and reveals the first in-depth look at how the Obama administration operates.

In Obama's Deal, FRONTLINE veteran producer Michael Kirk (Bush's War, Dreams of Obama, Inside the Meltdown, The Warning) provides a sobering expose of the realities of American politics, the power of special interest groups, and the role of money in policy making.