A barrier to healthcare reform

I AM gravely concerned by Christopher Rowland's article ``Kennedy pushing hospital-union talks" (Page A1, Aug. 19) and the Aug. 22 op-ed by Thomas A. Kochan (``Moving beyond `labor vs. healthcare industry' "), challenging unions and teaching hospitals to work together. As a lifelong advocate for affordable healthcare, I believe the singularly pro-union stance of our Democratic leaders dismisses the effect that hospital staff unionization will have on healthcare costs.

What is at stake here is not simply 1199 SEIU gaining entry into Massachusetts' teaching hospitals. It is the success of the Commonwealth's landmark legislation to provide healthcare coverage to the uninsured that will be jeopardized. Put more bluntly, the union will bring added costs to healthcare, and those costs could well sabotage our healthcare reform.

The preponderance of care delivered in academic institutions makes healthcare in Massachusetts the most expensive in the nation -- indeed, in the world. As a physician and former chief executive of Tufts Health Plan, I know the challenges of managing medical costs.

As a Massachusetts citizen, I'm proud that we are the first in the nation to enact real healthcare reform. That's why I ask Democratic leaders to take a more balanced view on this issue.

Dr. HARRIS A. BERMAN
Boston

The writer is chairman of the department of public health and family medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.