[Bret L]

The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare


By JOHN MACKEY

€œThe problem with socialism is that eventually you run out
of other peoples 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 peoples money. These deficits are simply not sustainable. 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 move us
much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system.
Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the
opposite direction€”toward less government control and more individual
empowerment. Here are eight reforms that would greatly lower the cost
of health care for everyone:

€¢€‰Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible
health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs). The
combination of high-deductible health insurance and HSAs 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. We also
provide up to $1,800 per year in additional health-care dollars
through deposits into employees 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 plans costs are much lower than typical
health insurance, while providing a very high degree of worker
satisfaction.

€¢€‰Equalize the tax laws so that that employer-provided health
insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax
benefits. Now employer health insurance benefits are fully tax
deductible, but individual 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 insurance wherever we live. Health
insurance should be portable.

€¢€‰Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must
cover. These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance by
billions of dollars. What is insured and what is not insured should be
determined by individual customer preferences and not through special-
interest lobbying.

€¢€‰Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to
pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
These costs are passed back to us through much higher prices for
health care.

€¢€‰Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care
treatments cost. How many people know the total cost of their last
doctors visit and how that total breaks down? What other goods or
services do we buy without knowing how much they will cost us?

€¢€‰Enact Medicare reform. We need to face up to the actuarial fact that
Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy and enact reforms that create
greater patient empowerment, choice and responsibility.

€¢€‰Finally, revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make
a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people
who have no insurance and arent covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the
State Childrens Health Insurance Program.

Many promoters of health-care reform believe that people have an
intrinsic ethical right to health care€”to equal access to doctors,
medicines and hospitals. While all of us empathize with those who are
sick, how can we say that all people have more of an intrinsic right
to health care than they have to food or shelter?

Health care is a service that we all need, but just like food and
shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial
market exchanges. A careful reading of both the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right
to health care, food or shelter. Thats because there isnt any. This
€œright€� has never existed in America

Even in countries like Canada and the U.K., there is no intrinsic
right to health care. Rather, citizens in these countries are told by
government bureaucrats what health-care treatments 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 treatments.

Although Canada has a population smaller than California, 830,000
Canadians are currently waiting to be admitted to a hospital or to get
treatment, according to a report last month in Investors Business
Daily. In England, the waiting list is 1.8 million.

At Whole Foods we allow our team members to vote on what benefits they
most want the company to fund. Our Canadian and British employees
express their benefit preferences very clearly€”they want supplemental
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 if they already have an €œintrinsic 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 government spending and control, we need to
address the root causes of poor health. This begins with the
realization that every American adult is responsible for his or her
own health.

Unfortunately many of our health-care problems are self-inflicted: two-
thirds of Americans are now overweight and one-third are obese. Most
of the diseases that kill us and account for about 70% of all health-
care spending€”heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity€”are
mostly preventable through proper diet, exercise, not smoking, minimal
alcohol consumption and other healthy lifestyle choices.

Recent scientific and medical evidence shows that a diet consisting of
foods that are plant-based, nutrient dense and low-fat will help
prevent and often reverse most degenerative diseases that kill us and
are expensive to treat. We should be able to live largely disease-free
lives until we are well into our 90s and even past 100 years of age.

Health-care reform is very important. Whatever reforms are enacted it
is essential that they be financially responsible, and that we have
the freedom to choose doctors and the health-care services that best
suit our own unique set of lifestyle choices. We are all 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 lives and will help create a vibrant and sustainable American
society.
€”Mr. Mackey is co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market Inc."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB2000...072865070.html