Maybe we need to stop thinking of health spending as a policy problem and start thinking of it as an addiction. Maybe we need a 12-step program. No, we're in a nasty recession, better make it a 6-step program.

That's how Nancy Turnbull of Harvard's School of Public Health has begun to think about health spending. She posted her "Six Step Program for Controlling Health Care Costs in Massachusetts" on the Commonhealth blog of WBUR public television. (Hat tip to Elizabeth Cooney of the Boston Globe's health blog for spotting this) Massachusetts is facing some unique cost problems as it pushes ahead with its full coverage program, but a lot of what Turnbull writes is widely applicable. It's also a fun read.

Here's the gist:

1. Admit that health care costs have become unmanageable
2. Embrace a greater power to help restore us to sanity and strength: (hint hint she means the government)
3. Examine past errors with the help of experienced people:
4. Admit the nature of our wrongs and make amends to those we have harmed:
5. Learn to live a new life with new behaviors:
6. Have a spiritual awakening and lead the way for others.

Hmm. We're having a little trouble getting our heads wrapped around that last one (Health reform. Congress. Spiritual Awakening?) But this is the kind of post people either love or hate, so go decide for yourself.