I’m going to trust you all not to spread this news around, because the Obama Administration and the HHS’s ever-competent Kathleen Sebelius would prefer it remain hush hush. Not to mention, it will never admit that Ted Cruz was right. I can trust you all, right? Wink and a nod.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting on an altered exemption buried within the latest (unconstitutional?) decree from on high targeted at preserving some of those nasty, sub-par plans: A way out of ObamaCare, conveniently until 2016, of course. From the WSJ, surprise, surprise:

To wit, last week the Administration quietly excused millions of people from the requirement to purchase health insurance or else pay a tax penalty.

…the mandate suspension was buried in an unrelated rule that was meant to preserve some health plans that don’t comply with ObamaCare benefit and redistribution mandates. Our sources only noticed the change this week.

That seven-page technical bulletin includes a paragraph and footnote that casually mention that a rule in a separate December 2013 bulletin would be extended for two more years, until 2016. Lo and behold, it turns out this second rule, which was supposed to last for only a year, allows Americans whose coverage was cancelled to opt out of the mandate altogether.

In 2013, HHS decided that ObamaCare’s wave of policy terminations qualified as a “hardship” that entitled people to a special type of coverage designed for people under age 30 or a mandate exemption. HHS originally defined and reserved hardship exemptions for the truly down and out such as battered women, the evicted and bankrupts.

But amid the post-rollout political backlash, last week the agency created a new category: Now all you need to do is fill out a form attesting that your plan was cancelled and that you “believe that the plan options available in the [ObamaCare] Marketplace in your area are more expensive than your cancelled health insurance policy” or “you consider other available policies unaffordable.”

This lax standard—no formula or hard test beyond a person’s belief—at least ostensibly requires proof such as an insurer termination notice. But people can also qualify for hardships for the unspecified nonreason that “you experienced another hardship in obtaining health insurance,” which only requires “documentation if possible.” And yet another waiver is available to those who say they are merely unable to afford coverage, regardless of their prior insurance. In a word, these shifting legal benchmarks offer an exemption to everyone who conceivably wants one.

Aside from the basic admission that those “affordable” ObamaCare plans are in fact unaffordable for millions, the reasons for this alteration are obvious. No, it’s never about the good of the country with these people. It’s about the horrid rollout, low enrollment stats, and of course the fact that ObamaCare will continue to be a campaign issue well into the 2016 election cycle. Not to mention that the “leader” of the free world has accomplished zilch, other than to diminish our power and reputation globally, in his over five years in office.

Now remember when Ted Cruz took to the floor of the U.S. Senate and filibustered for over twenty-one hours in the hopes his fellow Republicans would see the light and courageously defund this monstrosity? And the obstinate Democrats refused to even delay the individual mandate, the very heart of the ACA? Go get your shocked face, because it seems Senator Cruz was right, and the Obama Administration has apparently done just that. This thing is hurting just about all of us. But you won’t hear about the temporary stay of execution from the liberal media. They’re too busy chasing the insufferable (in-need-of-a-good-butt-whoopin’) Justin Bieber and telling us which words we can and cannot utter. Nothing to see hear, move along…right, Representative Elect David Jolly?

**Update: The Blaze has the complete March 5 memo here.