Obama Regime Update: Here’s how the White House just tweaked Obamacare

The Washington Post reports:

The Obama administration confirmed to The Washington Post a little bit ago that it is indeed tweaking the way the individual mandate works as to not penalize anyone who purchases coverage during this first open enrollment period.

It's not quite right to describe this as a delay of the individual mandate, or an extension of open enrollment. There will still be a requirement to carry insurance coverage in 2014, and open enrollment still ends on March 31, 2014 -- two facts that are true now and were true yesterday.

Before getting to what the change is, two pieces of information are helpful to keep in mind. First is the open enrollment period: The health care law's open enrollment period runs from Oct. 1, 2013 through March 31, 2014. During those six months, shoppers can purchase coverage through HealthCare.gov. On April 1 though, they're out of luck -- and have to wait until 2015 to purchase a health insurance plan.

Second is the individual mandate: Under federal regulations, anyone who has a gap in coverage three months or longer has to pay a tax penalty. If you go without coverage for one month, the federal government gives you a pass. But if you are uncovered for at least one day in three separate months -- January, February and March, for example -- the federal government will fine you.

The Obama regime makes its own law without Congress.