***NOTE*** I may work for Whole Foods Market but this blog entry is not affiliated with the company in any way. All opinions expressed in this entry are mine and mine alone. I did not write this on company time or for the company. I wrote it because I wanted to express my feelings toward the boycott. This, like any other blog entry I’ve written, is all mine suckas!
So lately there has been a huge country wide debate on health care reform. EVERYONE and their uncle has an opinion on the subject. I’m not here to tell you my opinion (well maybe… but that’s not why I’m writing this!) I am writing this in response to the boycott on Whole Foods Market because of C.E.O John Mackey’s article on Health Care Reform. If you have not read it yet here it is…
Health Care Reform
“The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money”-Margaret Thatcher.
With a projected $1.8 trillion deficit for 2009, several trillions more in deficits projected over the next decade, and with both Medicare and Social Security entitlement spending about to ratchet up several notches over the next 15 years as Baby Boomers become eligible for both, we are rapidly running out of other people’s money. These deficits are simply not sustainable and they are either going to result in unprecedented new taxes and inflation or they will bankrupt us.
While we clearly need health care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and moves us much closer to a complete governmental takeover of our health care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the exact opposite direction-toward less governmental control and more individual empowerment. Here are eight reforms that would greatly lower the cost of health care for everyone:
1. Remove the legal obstacles which slow the creation of high deductible health insurance plans and Health Savings Accounts. The combination of high deductible health insurance and Health Savings Accounts is one solution that could solve many of our health care problems. For example, Whole Foods Market pays 100% of the premiums for all our team members who work 30 hours or more per week (about 89% of all team members) for our high deductible health insurance plan, and provides up to $1,800 per year in additional health care dollars through deposits into their own Personal Wellness Accounts to spend as they choose on their own health and wellness. Money not spent in one year rolls over to the next and grows over time. Our team members therefore spend their own health care dollars until the annual deductible is covered (about $2,500) and the insurance plan kicks in. This creates incentives to spend the first $2,500 more carefully. Our plan’s costs are much lower than typical health insurance, while providing a very high degree of team member satisfaction.
2. Change the tax laws so that that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have exactly the same tax benefits. Right now employer health insurance benefits are fully tax deductible for employers but private health insurance is not. This is unfair.
3. Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines. We should all have the legal right to purchase health insurance from any insurance company in any state and we should be able use that health insurance wherever we live. Health insurance should be portable everywhere.
4. Repeal all government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover. These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance many billions of dollars. What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual health insurance customer preferences and not through special interest lobbying.
5. Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors into paying insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. These costs are ultimately being passed back to us through much higher prices for health care.
6. Make health care costs transparent so that consumers will understand what health care treatments cost. How many people know what their last doctor’s visit cost? What other goods or services do we as consumers buy without knowing how much they will cost us? We need a system where people can compare and contrast costs and services.
7. Enact Medicare reform: we need to face up to the actuarial fact that Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy and move towards greater patient empowerment and responsibility.
8. Permit individuals to make voluntary tax deductible donations on their IRS tax forms to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren’t covered by Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP or any other government program.
Many promoters of health care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care-to universal and equal access to doctors, medicines, and hospitals. While all of us can empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have any more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have an intrinsic right to food, clothing, owning their own homes, a car or a personal computer? Health care is a service which we all need at some point in our lives, but just like food, clothing, and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually-beneficial market exchanges rather than through government mandates. A careful reading of both The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter, because there isn’t any. This “right” has never existed in America.
Even in countries such as Canada and the U.K., there is no intrinsic right to health care. Rather, citizens in these countries are told by governmental bureaucrats what health care treatments and medicines they are eligible to receive and when they can receive them. All countries with socialized medicine ration health care by forcing their citizens to wait in lines to receive scarce and expensive treatments. Although Canada has a population smaller than California, 830,000 Canadians are waiting to be admitted to a hospital or to get treatment. In England, the waiting list is 1.8 million citizens. At Whole Foods we allow our team members to vote on what benefits they most want the company to fund on their behalf. Our Canadian and British team members express their benefit preferences very clearly-they want supplemental health care more than additional paid time off, larger donations to their retirement plans, or greater food discounts; they want health care dollars that they can control and spend themselves without permission from their governments. Why would they want such additional health care benefit dollars to spend if they already have an “intrinsic right to health care”? The answer is clear-no such right truly exists in either Canada or the U.K.-or in any other country.
Rather than increase governmental spending and control, what we need to do is address the root causes of disease and poor health. This begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for their own health. Unfortunately many of our health care problems are self-inflicted with over 2/3 of Americans now overweight and 1/3 obese. Most of the diseases which are both killing us and making health care so expensive-heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and obesity, which account for about 70% of all health care spending, are mostly preventable through proper diet, exercise, not smoking, minimal or no alcohol consumption, and other healthy lifestyle choices.
Over the past two decades, breakthrough scientific research by Colin Campbell, as documented in his book The China Study, and clinical medical experiences by many doctors including Dean Ornish, Caldwell Esselstyn, John McDougall, Joel Fuhrman, and Neal Barnard have shown that a diet consisting of whole foods which are plant-based, nutrient dense, and low-fat will help prevent and often reverse most of the degenerative diseases that are killing us, and becoming more and more expensive to treat through drugs and surgery. We should be able to live healthy and largely disease free lives until we are well into our 90’s and even past 100 years of age.
Health care reform in America is very important. Whatever reforms are enacted it is essential that they be financially responsible and that we have the freedom to choose our own doctors and the health care services that best suit our own unique set of lifestyle choices. We are responsible for our own lives and our own health. We should take that responsibility very seriously and use our freedom to make wise lifestyle choices that will protect our health. Doing so will enrich our personal lives and will help create a vibrant and sustainable American society.
So… I read this thing all the way through and well… I don’t see it saying anywhere that people don’t need health care or that only the rich should have it. People are boycotting Whole Foods Market for this? This article?! Really?! Because the C.E.O of the company has an opinion?! So these people who are boycotting must have an opinion as well right? So shall everyone who knows them turn their backs on them if they don’t agree? Yeah I don’t think so… Everyone has an opinion and we all have a right to an opinion, it’s America. Shouldn’t we only boycott a company based on their actions NOT their opinions? How many of those people who are boycotting Whole Foods Market shop at Wal*Mart?
Wal*Mart is a company that routinely screws over their employees out of health care and workers comp. Not only that but they’ve been known to refuse to pay overtime, hire illegal immigrants for less than minimum wage, and mistreat their employees. Yet I’m sure many of these boycotters shop there and don’t even think twice of what kind of corporation they are shoveling their money into.
I have worked for Whole Foods Market for almost two years now. It has been nothing short of a great experience. Here is why…
- They take care of my health care and help me out when I’m too blonde to figure it out.
- They offer great support for my growth in the company.
- They let us vote on our benefits!
- They put money in a wellness account for me to spend as I please on anything medical related.
- They have an open door policy with leadership. I feel comfortable talking to management about anything. (Well maybe not my rag but you know work related stuff)
- If I have an emergency I know I can count on my work to help me out with their emergency found.
- I’ve been hurt at work and I never felt as if my job was at risk. They did the right thing by taking care of my injury and making sure I was ok. They also didn’t make me lose hours or anything of that sort.
That’s just a few reasons, believe me there are many more! These are just personal reasons. Whole Foods Market does so much for the world. They have partnered with 2006 nobel peace prize winner and recipient of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom Muhammad Yunus to create the Whole Planet foundation. This program provides micro loans to save people’s lives by allowing them to pay off loan sharks (who would have other wise killed them) and start their own small businesses. These people don’t have to offer any collateral or sign a contract and they pay very little interest (which goes back into the pot to fund more loans) and aren’t killed or tortured if they don’t pay it back. This project spans the globe from America to South America to Africa and Asia.
Whole Foods Market has also created the Green Mission which sets out to make sure our stores are being as ecological friendly as possible. They also started the Animal Compassion foundation which helps make sure the animals we eat aren’t brutally tortured and mistreated or made to suffer with malnutrition and hormone abuse. They also provide support and a customer base for local farmers and companies which not only stimulates the economy in your area but saves on travel time which helps save our planet.
Locally Whole Foods Market does a lot in each community it is apart of as well. They help clean up beaches, parks, forests, rivers, and their surrounding areas. They provide meals for the poor and help local animal shelters with supplies, food, and helping hands. They have free classes to help people better their lives through healthy eating and life styles. They provide activities for local kids that not only help them get started on the right track but provides safe fun activities. They donate a ton of money to local charities with their 5% days, bag refund donations, and straight up donations.
On top of all that John Mackey has not only set a new standard for a great work place (without a union that ass rapes it’s members) but since 2006 he has donated all of his salary except for $1 to charity and set up a $100,00 emergency fund for employees(yes before it was cool for a C.E.O to be giving). He may have his own opinions about things but he is in no way a bad guy! He has a right to express his opinion just like you and me. Also it is HIS opinion! Not the whole company’s opinion or it’s employee’s opinions. There is absolutely no reason to punish the lively hood of all the people involved with Whole Foods Market just because you don’t agree with one person. Anyone who feels the need to try and injure a company who has done so many good things based on one person’s opinion seriously has some issues and I wouldn’t want to be friends with them.
I challenge all my blog readers to not jump to conclusions based on media clips and mass misconceptions but to make their own opinions by doing actual research. I also ask you to think about your actions before you make them. Who are they REALLY going to hurt? A C.E.O who doesn’t even take a salary or the cashier trying to support their family? Would you be able to sleep at night knowing that you took part in someone losing their job in this harsh economy? I sure hope not.
♥ Shawnee
