Meanwhile, probably in an attempt to distract from Cruz's "talk in" protest on Capitol Hill, Kathleen and Sebelius and crew finally announced the exchange rates for the 37 states operating on the federal system starting next week. (I'd make a joke about waiting till the last minute here, but the glass office I'm typing in isn't very good for stone throwing.)

And as the stories creep over the AP wire today, breaking down the rates state by state, I find the overall tone from what you'd call the mainstream press a little disconcerting. (By the way, ouch, New Jersey.)

To go by the dozen or so headlines I've looked over this morning, it sounds like great news. "Premiums lower than expected!" they all seem to proclaim over blaring horns – with rainbows in the background. But, as we all know, lower premiums tend to translate into high deductibles, which to AP's credit, they reported later in the day, but you know as well as I do that it won't get nearly as much mileage as the earlier round of stories.

And, it's still early. I have a feeling that, based on adverse selection and higher than expected utilization, we'll be seeing some tougher numbers next year. It should be a fun ride.

Which I guess gets me to my final point: Delaying bits and pieces of this legislation while powering forward with others is nothing short of a recipe for disaster. For the math to work on this – and, yeah, I know that asking a lot from Washington – the mandates, the penalties and the means to exercise both of them, have to be in place or the carriers are going to take a bath here. Which, of course, means the rest of us will soon after.

(Next Thursday, I'll be on the line with a pair of voluntary experts talking about the top trends and products in that fast-growing space. You don't need me to tell you how important voluntary's going to become over the next couple of years, so please join for this important web seminar. You can sign up here.)