Obamacare is on "pause" for the moment.  We will probably not hear about it again until the 2018 premiums start hitting the front pages or more areas get left without an insurance carrier.  And this is just around the corner!

This is why I believe that some red-state Democrats will regret the day that they followed Minority Leader Charles Schumer rather than look out for their voters.

What if a red-state Democrat had stepped forward and voted with the GOP to begin finding a solution to the problem?  My guess is that the particular senator would have sealed his re-election in 2018.

We learned this week that Senator Manchin will be in for a fight in 2018.  The GOP in West Virginia is not assuming that the popular Mr. Manchin will be re-elected.  I wonder how Manchin will answer the question in a future debate: "Mr. Senator, why did you choose to stick with your party rather than West Virginia, hard hit by premium increases?"

By next spring, Obamacare will be in even bigger trouble than it is now.

This is a preview of premium increases for 2018:

Preliminary analysis suggests some of the most popular plans could see double-digit premium increases. 

Health care consulting firm Avalere analyzed initial rate estimates from eight states and found that premiums for "silver" plans (the most popular plans) are rising 18% next year, after a 12% increase this year.

On top of that, 41% of counties in the U.S. will have just one insurer option on the marketplace.

I wonder how many of those counties are in West Virginia, Montana, Missouri, and the so-called red states.

Obamacare, the next chapter, will be back, but not in the context Democrats were looking forward to.  The next fight will be about premium increases, and the program is still called "The Affordable Care Act."

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