A simple law requiring certain insurance companies to insure anyone that applies no matter their health would have covered it. Along with higher rates for those applying. Maybe even a government subsidy for those with health care challenges. To remake the entire medical industry so it is destroyed is another thing altogether.
One other thing that Obama does not tell you, insurance does not equal health care. If you cannot find anyone to take you, the emergency room is still the only place you can go.
As long as it were utterly of option, rather than a custom such as being extended to all employees, such a situation would have only the very sick people applying.
There is no way to avoid the need of subsidization to make something like this work. But there are ways to keep the subsidization sane.