Today, the Obama administration announced that people whose insurance plans were cancelled this year will “temporarily” be exempted from the law’s individual mandate. Here’s how they’re doing it — and what it means for the law.

Bottom line:

This puts the first crack in the individual mandate. The question is whether it’s the last. If Democratic members of Congress see this as solving their political problem with people whose plans have been canceled, it could help them stand against Republican efforts to delay the individual mandate. But if congressional Democrats use this ruling as an excuse to delay or otherwise defang the individual mandate for anyone who doesn’t want to pay for insurance under Obamacare, then it’ll be a very big problem for the law.

More: The Individual Mandate No Longer Applies to People Whose Plans Were Canceled