The likelihood of a bailout is not as remote as liberals claim, given that 71 percent of the exchange enrollees are older and not as healthy, about 11 points more than optimal according to the administration’s own projections. Indeed, even before many insurers reported lower-than-expected earnings this week, Moody’s had downgraded its outlook for the industry to “negative.”

But the insurer bailout is not the only appropriation battle brewing. In the fairytale that the president told the public, ObamaCare wasn’t going to cost taxpayers a “dime” because all of the necessary funds would be obtained from drastic Medicare reimbursement cuts to doctors and hospitals. How drastic? So drastic, notes Forbes analyst Chris Conover, that by 2030 Medicare would be paying providers 60 percent less than what private plans do.

But everyone knows this will never happen. Congress has avoided these statutory cuts for 15 straight years. So at some point, ObamaCare diehards will either have break this streak and make the cuts — or ask Republicans for the necessary funds from elsewhere in the budget.