Delay the individual mandate. This idea is at the heart of the Republicans’ “fairness” argument: If the Obama administration could delay the requirement for large employers to cover their workers or pay fines, why shouldn’t regular people get a one-year break from the requirement to get health coverage or pay their own fines?

It’s an argument that could have broad appeal — 22 House Democrats voted for an individual mandate delay in July. Even Jon Stewart pressed Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Monday night on why individuals couldn’t get the same delay as business.

The problem for the White House is the individual mandate is linked directly to the coverage of everyone with pre-existing conditions, which starts Jan. 1. The mandate brings healthy people into the new insurance system, along with the sicker ones. That balance helps prevent the so-called insurance “death spiral” — rising insurance prices and fewer people covered if only sicker people enroll.

Republicans could also renew their push to delay the entire law for one year, including pre-existing condition coverage. But even if the White House was open to that delay — which it has rejected on principle — there’s a practical problem. People are already signing up for Obamacare health plans that start Jan. 1. The last thing the administration needs is another P.R. nightmare — telling those people they have to wait another year.