California ObamaCare recipients — most of whom have eluded the eye-popping premium increases that many Americans across the nation have seen — are likely to face far costlier insurance packages in 2017. After back to back years that saw premiums rise by a relatively meager 4%, the Washington Examiner reports that, “partially due to the end of a federal program designed to smooth insurer losses,” health care packages on the state exchange, Covered California, are expected to rise by an average of 13.2% next year. That includes a 16% and 19% bump from Anthem and Blue Shield in California, respectively, which insure roughly 50% of the state’s marketplace.

According to the Examiner, “Trying to smooth the news, which dismayed consumer advocates in California, [Covered California Director Peter] Lee stressed that rate hikes were also in the double-digits in the years before President Obama’s healthcare law started. They have averaged 7 percent each year for the last three years, lower than before the law.” That may be true, but it also misses the point: California’s artificially driven low-inflation premium days are over. And the trend nationwide is heading in the wrong direction. In some states — including our home state of Tennessee — the rate increases are exceptional. Isn’t that what Obama’s promised to reverse? To make health care affordable?

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported this week, “U.S. antitrust officials are poised to file lawsuits to block Anthem Inc.‘s takeover of rival health-insurer Cigna Corp. and Aetna Inc.’s deal to buy Humana Inc., according to a person familiar with the matter. Justice Department officials, who are responsible for protecting competition, are concerned that the deals, which would transform the health-insurance industry by turning its five biggest companies into three, would harm customers, according to several people familiar with the situation.”

What exactly did the government expect? Yes, monopolies are bad for business, but the government left insurers with little choice but to amalgamate. In fact, the failed ObamaCare program is a case study in how to avoid monopolies. The feds created this mess, and now they want to force insurers to abandon the only business decision that can keep them financially afloat. No wonder Barack Obama recently resurrected the Left’s coveted public option scheme.