As a candidate, Barack Obama promised to repeal a prohibition on Medicare negotiating directly with drug companies over prices for Medicare recipients. But it's widely viewed as unlikely to before the end of the current Obama administration.

"It's hard to tell you that anything will happen prior to the election this year. It's going to be a difficult year to get any kind of legislation passed," said David Certner, legislative policy director for AARP.

"It has not happened and isn't likely to happen," said Gail Wilensky, who directed the Medicare and Medicaid programs from 1990 to 1992 under President George H.W. Bush.

"The Obama administration only has so much control over that, but I doubt Congress is going to pass it," said Lee Goldberg, vice president of health policy for the non partisan National Academy of Social Insurance.

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.,  has introduced a bill that would repeal the ban on negotiations, but it is stalled in the Senate Finance Committee.

The administration included as part of its fiscal year 2013 budget a narrower proposal allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices in the same manner as the Department of Veterans Affairs. It would allow Medicare beneficiaries who are also covered by the income-based Medicaid to receive the same rebates that Medicaid receives for brand name and generic drugs.

But this, too, seems unlikely to happen given the near-gridlock in Congress.

It's always possible that the landscape may shift as we near the end of the year. But for now, with no real prospect in sight of repealing the ban, we're calling this promise Broken.