Free candy! (Please take one.)

“It’s the law!!!”

Wasn’t that what the Democrats kept screeching during 2012? Apparently they were just trolling us:

Washington Post | Obama administration will allow more time to enroll in health care on federal marketplace

The Obama administration has decided to give extra time to Americans who say that they are unable to enroll in health plans through the federal insurance marketplace by the March 31 deadline.

Federal officials confirmed Tuesday evening that all consumers who have begun to apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, but who do not finish by Monday, will have until about mid-April to ask for an extension.

Under the new rules, people will be able to qualify for an extension by checking a blue box on HealthCare.gov to indicate that they tried to enroll before the deadline. This method will rely on an honor system; the government will not try to determine whether the person is telling the truth.

The rules, which will apply to the federal exchanges operating in three dozen states, will essentially create a large loophole even as White House officials have repeatedly said that the March 31 deadline was firm. The extra time will not technically alter the deadline but will create a broad new category of people eligible for what’s known as a special enrollment period…

Read the rest here.

So, apparently our government is now running a massive national health insurance system under the same strategy as the people during Halloween who set out a bowl of candy with instructions for trick-or-treaters to “please take one or two.”