Obamacare’s been a disaster so far, for those trying to enroll and for those unwillingly made to because regulations killed their old plans. Now it’s getting worse. The Wall Street Journal points out exactly how:

“Late Thursday, the Health and Human Services Department suddenly released a new regulation that explains ‘there have been unforeseen barriers to enrollment on the exchanges.’ The passive voice is necessary because the barriers are all the result of politically driven delays, the botched website and the exchanges that transmit false information about enrollment to insurers.”

The government’s cure for its own incompetence? “Unilaterally ordering plans to backdate all exchange applications. People can sign up for a plan on the exchange as late as Dec. 23.” Then they’re covered – the insurer must pay all claims, whether or not the government sends any information, whether the customer pays (only an unspecified “down payment” is required).

“The White House seems to understand that hundreds of thousands of patients may soon discover that they face gaps in coverage through no fault of their own, but because their old plan was canceled and the exchanges malfunctioned. Some will have life-threatening illnesses, or be diagnosed as such, and require certain advanced or continuous treatments that they will not be able to obtain. ObamaCare will be blamed and rightly so, which is why the White House wants to transfer political accountability to the insurers.”

For the Obama administration, it’s not about coverage any more. It’s about shifting blame.

One more thing: As we’ve heard, the Obama administration pushed insurers to keep premiums down even as mandates pushed them up. Insurers responded by limiting the doctors and hospitals and even the drugs customers could access, an effect the administration seemed to welcome. Now, the Journal points out, HHS is demanding that insurers cover out-of-network care as if it were in-network, and that insurers cover any prescription, no questions asked:

“How these new mandates are supposed to be financed is anyone's guess. Obamacare plans aren't priced to provide the same quality as normal private insurance, but with two weeks to go insurers must now provide coverage as if they are. . . .

“All this could have been avoided if President Obama had allowed Americans to keep the plans they liked as he promised. But liberal social equity goals require some people to be harmed so others will ostensibly benefit.”

As George Will put it on Fox News Friday night: “We have a great sense this week again of the making it up as they go along, as kind of government by teenagers.”

Dec. 16 update:

Michael Boskin in the Wall Street Journal points out more failures of the “Affordable” Care Act coming soon:

“Insurance companies usually submit proposed pricing to regulators in the summer, and the open enrollment period begins in the fall for plans starting Jan. 1. Businesses of all sizes that currently provide health care will have to offer ObamaCare's expensive, mandated benefits, or drop their plans and—except the smallest firms—pay a fine. Tens of millions of Americans with employer-provided health plans risk paying more for less, and losing their policies and doctors to more restrictive networks. The administration is desperately trying to delay employer-plan problems beyond the 2014 election to avoid this shock.”

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that this already is happening:

“Insurance brokers report that many of their clients face large increases in rates.

“Some businesses with healthy workforces are seeing rates increases of 25% to 40%, and this is to renew their policies early, said Pam Branshaw, a partner who oversees the employee benefit practice at Wipfli, an accounting and consulting firm.”

Why? Insurers do not want to lose money. They’re responding to the law’s economics. Other people will, too, writes Boskin:

“On the supply side, medicine will become a far less attractive career for talented young people. More doctors will restrict practice or retire early rather than accept lower incomes and work conditions they did not anticipate. Already, many practices are closed to Medicaid recipients, some also to Medicare. The pace of innovation in drugs, medical devices and delivery is expected to slow significantly, as higher taxes and even rationing set in.”