I exhibit with a simple table. My org version is Org mode version 9.2.4 (9.2.4-10-g3b006f-elpa @ /Users/alanwehmann/.emacs.d/elpa/org-20190715/)
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
#+TBLFM: @4$1=@-2::@4$2=@-2::@4$3=@-2::@4$4=@-2
insert a column using 'org-table-insert-column (don't update)
| 1 | | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 5 | | 6 | 7 | 8 |
#+TBLFM: @4$2=@-2::@4$3=@-2::@4$4=@-2::@4$5=@-2
There is now a formula for the blank column and no formula for the first column.