[kumarm]

Definitely Aarogyasri in AP saved millions of Lives. Current administration tried to remove the program since its not introduced by them and can't take credit for. So they are trying to kill it slowly (By removing people from program, cutting benefits etc).

I wonder what will happen to this Free Health insurance program when central government changes next time.

[victor106]

The current state government is pro business and don’t have any money to implement or continue any past programs. Whatever money they have is spent on pet projects and making themselves rich.

The previous government even though was corrupt at least did something for the poor. I personally witnessed AROGYASHRI being used by the poor and the amount of stability it bought to their daily lives.

I also agree that there was lot of corruption in the program. If the choice is between saving the lives of the poor with corruption vs letting them die without I would choose the former any day. After all, the healthcare system in the US is filled with corrupt participants.

Let’s us not make the perfect the enemy of the good.

P.S:- I am not a citizen of India or don’t have any Indian roots but I lived there for a few years doing volunteer social work to help the poor.

[coliveira]

> If the choice is between saving the lives of the poor with corruption vs letting them die without I would choose the former any day

This is very important. We need to finally realize that corruption is endemic to the system, and when corruption is raised as an issue it is generally to disadvantage the poor (last time I looked Wall Street is still doing fine even under the highest levels of corruption one can imagine).

[spynxic]

> If the choice is between saving the lives of the poor with corruption vs letting them die without I would choose the former any day.

Corruption inherently makes the system insolvent, and in the worst-case, will result in a major debt if not addressed early on.

[omegaworks]

>Corruption inherently makes the system insolvent

False. Profitable private companies have to deal with loss all the time. It's called shrinkage. It can be mitigated, but like everything the costs of mitigation must be weighed against the benefits.

http://fortune.com/2015/06/05/walmart-theft/

Keep in mind, right-wing governments actively exploit this "corruption exists, therefore the entire social program is worthless" bug in our national consciousness. It's an effective political tool to transfer wealth away from the poor.

I agree with parent:

> Let’s us not make the perfect the enemy of the good.

[thewhitetulip]

Well, this is the case with every state with possible exception of Delhi.

[horsecaptin]

Isn't the current government conservative and pro-business? If the are the ones implementing free healthcare, then why should the leftist opposition want to remove it?

I bet they'll try to undermine it at every stage well before they ever get power. That will make it easy to kill or fix it when they do get power back.