publication date: Mar 5, 2010
Unless you've been living under a rock, you surely know that
debate over health care reform is a big topic in Washington over the past year. I don't know
about you, but I'd like to see the issue resolved and out of the news -
frankly, I'm tired of hearing about it. That said, I know many folks are
concerned about what's being discussed and what may or may not happen and the
implications that could have for the future.
One of the more interesting commentaries on health care
reform was offered by Whole Foods Market's CEO John Mackey late last summer.
Mackey's commentary touched off a bit of a firestorm, not surprisingly, because
his supermarket chain, which specializes in natural and organic products,
attracts a politically diverse range of customers and some of those folks,
especially the most liberal ones, weren't pleased by the positions he took.
Given all the political posturing and rhetoric coming out of Washington right now, I
encourage you to consider Mackey's thoughts. (Send me an email with your reactions, ideas and links to articles and ideas you've found of interest).
Background to the WSJ Op/Ed
Whole Foods Market was founded in Austin, Texas,
by four local businesspeople (John Mackey and Renee Lawson Hardy, owners of
Safer Way Natural Foods, and Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, owners of
Clarksville Natural Grocery) who saw that the natural foods industry was ready
for a supermarket format. The original Whole Foods Market opened in 1980 with a
staff of only 19 people. Today the company boasts more than 280 stores and
50,000 employees.
In his blog, Mackey explains that he was asked to write an
Op/Ed and in it, he gave his "...personal opinions. While I am in favor of health
care reform, Whole Foods Market as a company has no official position on the
issue. In answer to President Obama's invitation to all Americans to put
forward constructive ideas for reforming our health care system, I wrote this
Op/Ed piece called simply ‘Health Care Reform.' An editor at the Journal
rewrote the headline to call it ‘Whole Foods Alternative to Obamacare,' which
led to antagonistic feelings by many. That was not my intention - in fact, I do
not mention the President at all in this piece."
Having written for the print media for two decades now, I
can confirm what Mackey says about newspaper and magazine editors choosing
their own titles for articles. Over the years, I've gotten some complaints from
readers about titles applied to my print articles and most of the time, the
complaints had validity but I have to simply inform the reader that I didn't
choose the headline!
Mackey's Reform Ideas
In his introduction, Mackey begins by quoting former British
Prime Minister who said,
"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out
of other people's money." That right there I'm sure rankled the far left! He
then continued:
"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."
Mackey then outlined his eight ideas for health care reform
which he claims would lower costs and involve "...less governmental control and
more individual empowerment."
-
Remove the legal obstacles which slow the creation of high
deductible health insurance plans and Health Savings Accounts.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
In addition, Mackey later in the
piece addressed the
importance of personal health habits in impacting one's health:
"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."