There are many things that might have been done to reform healthcare in the United States after Barack Obama was elected. The Affordable Care Act does begin to address some of these problems:
It begins to break the bond of employers being the primary provider of health insurance coverage.
This was always an odd idea that exists as an artifact of the wage and price freeze of World War Two. Employers were not allowed to raise wages to attract workers, so they began offering “fringe” benefits instead.
via The Citizen http://www.thecitizen.com/blogs/greg-scandlen/10-22-2013/universal-health-insurance-lie