Healthcare Daily Digest for Thursday, 28 March: Healthcare Spending No Different Than Military Spending in the Realm of Government Spending

Healthcare reform is going to cost money. There are a lot of directions in which to point fingers over why this is such a surprise to folks — maybe calling it the Affordable Care Act was part of the problem in the same way calling it Global Warming confuses too many people who get their news not from journalists but from ill-informed talking heads named Steve and Gretchen and Brian because they focus too much on the “warming” part and not on the real issue which is systemic climate change and we’re getting away from the main point now so — but the point is yes: we’re going to have to pay something to make sure everyone in this country (this country that we’re all in together, p.s., as Americans, in case some of you forgot) doesn’t die from stupid health issues because they can’t afford to go to hospital.

So yeah, I’m a little frustrated with headlines like “Obama’s Health Care Reform Is Coming — With $1 Trillion In New Taxes” because it wants to tip the argument in the wrong direction. It wants to move the argument in the direction of wasteful government spending and and “HOW many zeroes?!?” and all of that when, because sometimes we forget, we don’t seem to blink an eye at government spending when it comes under the umbrella of military spending — that being an INCREDIBLE sinkhole for trillions of dollars and yes, I know, some of you will bring up 9/11 and “Never Again” and you’ll point to your flag pin on your lapel and I GET IT. But government spending is government spending and I, for one, don’t mind if my government spends my money in helping people get pap smears and wellness check-ups rather than six new fighter jets.

But that’s just me.

Thursday’s headlines:

Getting the Notes From a Neighbor: Forbes.com contributor Todd Hixon listened to a keynote speech from Jonathon Bush, the CEO of AthenaHealth, at the Xconomy Mobile Madness conference in Cambridge, Ma., and all we get are his notes.

AGAIN With the Political Debates: Didn’t we just go through this like six months ago? “Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) faced off Wednesday night for the first televised debate of the Democratic primary in the Massachusetts special election for the U.S. Senate.” Of interest to you lot: “Markey emphasized his work on healthcare reform and criticized Lynch for voting against the Affordable Care Act. Lynch hit back by slamming Markey’s support for the financial bailout.”

Do You Think ‘Biosimilars’ Will Reduce Healthcare Expenditures? Think again.: I’m now kinda embarrassed that I hadn’t, until now, even knew the word “biosimilar” — but thanks to Henry I. Miller (“I debunk hypocritical, dishonest junk science.”), I’m now worried about my generic Xanax.