Healthcare Digest 5/16: Republicans Use IRS, Healthcare for Irony Lesson

So, that whole thing with the IRS targeting conservative groups that have “destroy the IRS!” as one of their mission statements? Turns out, it may have implications for healthcare reform. And not just because almost EVERYTHING today seems to have implications for healthcare reform.

Republicans are using this tempest in a teapot to suggest that healthcare reform is absolutely the WRONG thing to do right now because…

Well, that’s the thing. It’s not at all clear what this has to do with healthcare reform. “Half of the billion dollars allocated to cover implementation of the Affordable Care Act went to the IRS. Starting in 2014, the agency will distribute subsidies for health-care coverage through state exchanges and issue penalties against individuals who do not get or businesses that do not provide insurance.”

Republicans feel that the IRS shouldn’t hire more agents for the implementation process because — and this is what we in the writing business call “irony” — the IRS profiled conservative groups in much the same way many conservative Republicans support racial profiling for safety. Clearly, they can’t be trusted to hire fairly so let’s dump the sick baby out with its typhus-ridden bathwater.

Or something.

“What’s happened heightens fears about how the IRS will handle taxpayer information and wield its power when it enforces Obamacare starting next year,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told the Washington Examiner.

It’s gonna be a LOOOOONG summer, guys.

Thursday’s Headlines

Wanna Increase Our Deficit? Repeal Obamacare: “Congressional budget analysts said Wednesday that repealing ObamaCare would increase the deficit by scrapping the law’s taxes, fees and spending cuts.” [The Hill]

Now’s the Time for a Healthcare Career!: “Unemployment rates may still be high and the opportunities out there in specific careers might be waning, but there is one job sector that may be promising — healthcare.” [Perry Daily]

Striking Healthcare Workers Arrested: “Thirteen people were arrested Wednesday at the UC regents meeting during a sit-down protest by healthcare workers threatening to strike at the system’s medical centers.” [LA Times]

California Democrat Says, “Come ON Already!”: “Let’s Move On and Implement Health Care Reform” [Huffington Post]

Medicare/Medicaid Chief Selected: “The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Marilyn Tavenner, a former nurse and hospital company executive, as the first full-fledged administrator for the Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs since 2006.” [Chicago Tribune]

How Much for That Innovation?: “The Obama administration on Wednesday announced a $1 billion initiative to fund innovations in federal healthcare programs aimed at cutting costs while improving the health results.” [Reuters]