Your points are all spot on in this post. There is no Whole Foods in the Capital District of NY. Seems as though Honest Weight Food Coop has too strong a hold on the region to make it worth their while to come to town. If they were in town, I would definitely vote with my wallet and not buy from them based on the CEO’s comments. Conscious consumers think holistically about the companies they do business with. The essence of the business needs to fully resonate. The CEO’s position on health care does not resonate with me- in fact it repulses me.

No I do not agree with everything he said, and I actually had quite a bit to say about it, I hate to link to my blog, but I also hate to leave a HUGELY long post! I hope you don’t mind.

he made some great points, and also so not so great points.
yes, I will give him to some degree that insurance is not a right, BUT I do believe healthcare is.

http://www.prissygreen.com/2009/08/the-whole-foods-alternative-to-obamacare-and-my-commentary.html

I mainly agree that some of the high deductible plans could work. hell I would rather have that then no insurance, at least then i would be able to pay the insurance allowables, get the write off and therefore get a “discount” compared to a selfpay.

Why shouldn’t ins companies be able to bid and compete across state lines? what is wrong with that? and what would be wrong with being covered when you go out of state?

okay, if anyone wants to read the rest of my take, hit my post.

My take on customers being upset? they are more upset that his way of thinking is not as liberal as they had hoped. sometimes people can’t not agree to disagree. Whole Foods has done a lot for getting organic food practices on board, and making it easier for the consumer. I don’t think boycotting them is a solution.

I think one point that Michael, the above poster, is missing is that most people aren’t looking for cures for diabetes, but simply affordable medical care.

In our system, if you come down with a serious disease, your insurance company is just as likely to give you the boot as they are to treat you. To top this off, if you don’t have insurance, because of ‘an existing medical condition’ or because you can’t afford it, you are simply out of luck.

You can argue that removing the private market will “stagnate innovation”, but this is certainly not the case in Canada or the UK, where new medical studies are constantly coming out and their citizens receive affordable quality care.

As a med student, I’ve already seen the lines and yes, rationing that currently exists in our hospitals. The numbers are horrible–we spend twice as much money on health care as the rest of the G8. There is room for reform, for sure. I would argue that private insurers are making a killing on an inelastic product, but I would argue that no matter how much money you throw at people, it doesn’t make them any “healthier.”

The United States doesn’t have a medical care problem–it has a health problem, and Whole Foods is a fighter for better health. Somehow people think more free doctor visits under this public option are going to cure them of diabetes, or make them lose weight–that preventative care is an intrinsic right. Hmm, not a chance. Preventative care will not correct the negative health externalities that exist.

Taxing poor behavior, however, will. So sure, tax soft drinks and fast foods, then take that tax revenue to pay off our other federal budget liabilities and maybe get kids running around the track in elementary school again, even if they’re the fat kid. We do this with the tobacco industry, and now less people smoke than ever before because cigarettes are taxed heavily.

Or if you’re a libertarian like myself, just let people have *liberty* to make their own health decisions. If people want to be healthy, then allow them to make whatever food decisions they want. If people want to be unhealthy and have medical care, allow them to purchase insurance for that matter.

More patents, new prescription drugs, and innovative medical discoveries exist in the United States primarily because of the existence of private enterprise. Government causes complacency in the medical department, regardless of how egalitarian it gets. Removing the private market, either through legislation or inserting a government monopoly, will stagnate innovation. Simple economics, and John Mackey knows this.

Time and time again, private business interests have salivated over the the possibility of marketing products that by virtue of provider obfuscation, are able to take advantage of huge segments of the population who are too ignorant of what they are buying to make an informed purchase decision. The result has CONSISTENTLY resulted in outsize profits for the seller, while the purchaser is totally unaware of the con to which they’ve been subjected until it is far too late. Yes, these advocates of “free market competition” are really talking about a competitive game in which their legions of fast talking salespeople will sell huge numbers of health insurance policies so full of arcane “gotchas” and fine print, that you wont realize you’ve just bought half the coverage at twice the price, until its too late.