And so it begins. Under Obamacare, health insurers have to offer contraception and “family planning” services, and do so at no charge to the patient, the federal Department of Health and Human Services decreed on Monday. The next step toward government-run health care has been taken.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius praised the ruling by saying that “no woman in America has to choose between paying a grocery bill and paying a copayment for preventive care that could save her life.” With that, HHS has knowingly set an impossible standard: life-saving treatment must be provided at no cost.

Of course, that standard cannot be met. Even in countries that have “universal care,” life-saving treatments are rationed. People who cannot afford them are put on waiting lists, where some die, because there simply isn’t enough money to provide everyone with “free” care.

The Obama administration played to the President’s political base by making family planning the focus of its first “free” coverage order. But what about mammograms? Are women to die of breast cancer because they cannot afford co-pays? If you believe Sebelius’ assertion that women commonly have to choose between food and co-pays, then yes. But of course, anyone so poor as to be in that situation should be covered by Medicaid. This is a freebie for the middle class. Many more will follow, until insurers start going under, then Washington will step in to fill the void — unless we repeal this abomination before that happens.