Prudent Blogger

In &"Bad omens for health ‘reform’ &" [op-ed, July 19], Robert J. Samuelson used Urban Institute estimates to say that health reform in Massachusetts has achieved little. Mr. Samuelson correctly stated that Massachusetts didn’t try to control costs in its 2006 legislation and that there’s no consensus yet there on how to control health-care spending. But his interpretation that the state’s health-reform gains have been &"small&" mischaracterized the evidence and deserved more discussion.

Under Massachusetts’s 2006 health-reform initiative, insurance coverage and access to health care both rose significantly. At the same time, unmet health-care needs fell, and fewer adults had trouble affording care. These advances were especially pronounced among lower-income adults. All of this occurred during the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Rising health-care costs are a continuing challenge, reflecting the difficult politics of cutting health-care spending and reducing provider revenues in Massachusetts and the nation. Nonetheless, the Massachusetts experience illustrates the substantial gains in insurance coverage, access and affordability of care that can be achieved with national reform.

Sharon Long and Karen Stockley,

Washington

The writers are, respectively, an affiliated scholar and a research assistant at the Urban Institute.

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The decision of the BJP government in
Karnataka to stand by the Reddy brothers is most likely driven by political
compulsion. The Reddy brothers reportedly have the support of more than 30
legislators who are needed to make up the numbers for the Yeddyurappa
government. However, the party may have lost precious public support by refusing
to take note of the allegations of corruption levelled against the brothers, who
run a mining empire in the state.

Given the serious charges of
illegal mining against the brothers, they should have been asked to step down
from their ministerial posts till they were cleared. The chief minister asserts
that the Reddy brothers are not responsible for illegal mining. But he has
promised a probe by the lokayukta into illegal mining since 2003. His assurance
is hardly convincing. One of the reasons cited by N Santosh Hegde, the lokayukta
of Karnataka, for his resignation from the post was non-cooperation from the
state government in his efforts to stem corruption. He has since withdrawn his
resignation but the charges he made against the government stay. Equally strong
have been the remarks made by governor H R Bhardwaj, who overreached his
constitutional role when he went public with his criticism. The Yeddyurappa
government owes the people an explanation. Such a short-sighted approach to
corruption could impact the partys image and long-term prospects in the
state.

What comes out of the present episode is the extraordinary
influence the mining lobby seems to have over the political system in Karnataka.
The Reddy brothers are not merely BJP leaders but state ministers with the means
to control the government. Time and again they have shown that they hold the key
to survival of the only BJP government in south India. Theyve been in electoral
politics for just a decade but in this short period they have made the BJP a
force to reckon with in their stronghold and consolidated their own political
clout.

Political instability in Jharkhand has been attributed to the
peddling of influence and mixing of private mining interests with state
politics. To ensure that Karnataka is not headed the same way the onus is on the
BJP, which must take most of the blame for allowing the Reddy brothers a free
run. But the Congress and the JD(S), which at this point of time are trying to
highlight corruption in the state, are not free of blame either. It is time the
political class recognises the need to regulate businesses so that doing
business legally becomes easier in the state.

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