Tired of spending so much money at Whole (Paycheck) Foods? Read this loathsome op-ed by John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods and part-time Yahoo sockpuppet, and I guarantee you it’s the last time you’ll be buying haricots verts, mahi-mahi, gluten-free sawdust bread, tofurkey kebabs, herbal boner pills or anything else from Whole Foods
Mackey’s op-ed bills itself as “The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare.” Your first signal of what might be coming, of course, is “ObamaCare,” And your second clue is the immediately following quotation from Ste. Margaret Thatcher:
The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.
Needless to say, this concern for other people’s money never prompted Ms. Thatcher to renounce the socialism involved in having the taxpayers pay her own salary and give her free lodging at 10 Downing Street. But, of course, all the folks running around saying that all government spending is socialism, or fascism, or Marxism, or evil Kenyan juju, or whatever, really mean only that government spending that they don’t like is socialism.
Anyway, back to Mackey. You might think that the title and the prefatory quotation for Mackey’s op-ed pretty much tell you everything you’re going to need to guess what he has to say, but, amazingly, it’s worse than even those two things might lead you to believe. Here’s MackeyCare distilled to its essence.
• Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs).
In the event that you’re not paying attention, what Mackey wants is for employers to pay less, and employees to pay more, into the health care system. Seriously.
• Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover.
Those of you who were foolishly hoping that MackeyCare would at least prohibit insurance companies from declining care for pre-existing conditions are a bit disappointed now, aren’t you? So not only does Mackey want employers to pay less and employees to pay more, he wants the insurance companies to be able to provide less.
• Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
Source: Medical Economics
• 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.
I think I spot a trend here. Employers pay less, insurers cover less, insured employees pay more for less, and Grandma on Medicare pays more for less. Woohoo! If we adopted MackeyCare, we could say that America has the best health-care system ever in the entire universe and really, really mean it!
You’re probably wondering now what Mackey has up his sleeve for the unemployed without insurance. Well, here you go. Read this at your own risk, and don’t blame Sadly, No! if you hurt yourself or others after reading what follows as you have been warned:
• 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 aren’t covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program
If each and every one of the 140 million U.S. taxpayers donated $10 to this fund, we could provide $28 worth of care each yer to the 50 million people who are uninsured. Got cancer but no insurance? Here’s enough to go buy some aspirin, a pint of vodka, bandages and a knife so you can cut your tumor out your own damn self.
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. That’s because there isn’t any. This “right” has never existed in America
You do, however, have the Constitutional right to bear arms, so at least you can shoot yourself if you get too sick and can’t pay for any treatment with your $28.
Oh, and one last thing. If people weren’t so fat, they wouldn’t need health insurance. No, really, he says that.
Just to cheer you up after this depressing post, go read this at the Whole Foods site forum. Although a boycott movement is afoot over there, someone posting as Guns&Liberty says that the Mackey letter made him a customer. Hilarity, as they say, ensues.
