On Obamacare, it is time to play hardball

First this:
American Thinker   "Shockingly, Republican senators, having failed to pass any healthcare reform legislation, appear poised to leave Washington in August for an undeserved vacation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has decided to force them to vote on a repeal plan (thereby exposing their true positions) which cannot eliminate many of the worst provisions of Obamacare.  For example, this does nothing to block-grant Medicaid to control runaway costs, perhaps the best aspect of the failed second Senate attempt. 

"A vote to repeal Obamacare will leave Republicans exposed to well-deserved criticism as funding for the medical system becomes untenable.  If they could not agree on a repeal and replace bill, they will never agree to fully repeal Obamacare, despite years of promises.  Further, it allows Democrats, particularly New York Senator Chuck Schumer a greater hand in crafting a replacement, since there is no consensus among Republicans for replacement.  A stand-alone replacement bill will require 60 senators to pass a filibuster challenge." . . .

IBD: Democrats Will Soon Regret That Republicans Failed To Repeal ObamaCare  "Health Reform: There were lots of celebrations on the left side of the aisle after the Senate GOP bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare died. The good times will be short lived, because one way or another ObamaCare is going away, and it's not at all clear that Democrats will gain additional leverage over what comes next by waiting for its collapse. It was amusing to hear Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer say, after the Senate bill failed, that Republicans should "work with Democrats on a bill that lowers premiums, provides long-term stability to the markets and improves our health care system." 

"Lower premiums, stabilize insurance markets, improve health care? Wasn't that what ObamaCare was supposed to do in the first place? While Schumer and company were busy calling Republicans mass murderers, here's what was actually happening with ObamaCare. 

•  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports that the number of insurers applying to participate in ObamaCare exchanges next year plunged by 38% compared with last year, and is half what it was in 2016. 
•  CMS also reported that 40 counties in Indiana, Ohio and Nevada are at risk of having zero insurance companies in their ObamaCare exchanges next year. The Kaiser Family Foundation put the number of at-risk counties at 38. 
•  In addition, CMS reported that 2.4 million enrollees in 40% of the nation's counties will have just one insurance company in their area. 
•  The average increase in premiums next year for a Silver plan in eight states will be 18%, according to Avalere. One of the last ObamaCare insurers in Iowa has put in for a 43.5% hike. In Washington state, the average boost is 22%. In Tennessee, the proposed rate hikes range from 21% to 42%. And so on. 
•  As we noted before in this space, these insurance defections and gargantuan rate hikes have nothing to do with the Republican's repeal effort, but with the continued deterioration of the ObamaCare markets.