"White House officials were quick to point out the many successes during Ms. Sebelius’s tenure: the end to pre-existing conditions as a bar to insurance"In the dark ages prior to ACA an individual could buy an insurance policy any time they like. No matter the month if you wanted insurance you could buy it. If you waited till you were sick you might pay more. A very small group of people were denied or had to enroll in high risk pools. But 85 to 90% of the population could buy any time they liked.
Now that ACA is in place and open enrollment closed unless you have a qualifying event you can't buy insurance no matter what, and that applies to 100% of the population.
That is progress under the Obama Administration.