It's frustrating that employer-provided healthcare is treated as the standard alternative to single-payer, with very limited time spent on why even private insu

It's frustrating that employer-provided healthcare is treated as the standard alternative to single-payer, with very limited time spent on why even private insurance is specifically coming from employers. (When historically, as you point out, the answer is "tax reasons".) The current system drives all kinds of awful distortions independent of actual cost, and it wouldn't take much to improve. Swapping the tax exemption for a write-off would be a significant start to stop penalizing freelancers and part-time workers who have to buy their own insurance, and indirectly promote competitive not-employer-sponsored plans. I'm not sure if this just gets ignored because the issue is so contentious that small changes aren't worth the political price, or if there's something darker there, but it sure seems like it could be a bipartisan move.