The deficit may not be glamorous to everyone but it's an urgent issues, the most urgent issue facing this country. The current debt is $56.4 trillion and over $30 trillion of these costs is from Medicare. The current levels of spending are unsustainable, including on healthcare--if continued they will impact the economy. Both parties share equal responsibility for this mess. The Republicans have been too spineless to raise taxes when needed and the Democrats have been too spineless to cut programs when the need arises.
I'm well aware of the need for healthcare reform and don't dispute the need for it, but a new healthcare bill is going to make this worse if not done right. The estimates of costs seem a bit low while savings seem inflated. There is no way to raise enough revenue to make Medicare solvent in it's current state, so cuts are going to be required (in addition to taxes). That's not even getting into how to pay for an overhaul of the health system.
Debt on debt is irresponsible, besides how are we going to pay for healthcare if foreign lenders stop lending, because the U.S. credit rating crashes. The economy is going to suffer if the deficit continues to increase a as portion of GDP. If we're going to tackle this problem we're going to have overhaul not just government in general, but especially get a handle on healthcare costs--the latter will eat us alive.
Finally, we have maturity deficit in this country. The reason things are they way they are is largely due to the people we elect: i.e. electing people who promise us never having to pay more taxes or cut programs. We need to grow up and elect people who will balance budgets and make difficult decisions, instead of this free-lunch non-sense.