Whole Foods and Healthcare – What Irony!

He had the courage to speak out.

In San Francisco, where I live, Whole Foods is like the Liberal Utopia.  I see tons of the Liberal cars there all the time (namely the Toyota Prius) with people buying their natural organic whatever.  Whole Foods seems to cater to this crowd so much that I was shocked to read that it’s owner disagrees with President Obama’s healthcare plan and even wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal saying so.  You can read his piece here.  He starts it all out with the Margaret Thatcher quote of: “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run outof other people’s money.”

I like it already!  As you can imagine, this has deeply annoyed the hybrid-driving, latte-swilling set:

Michael Lent, another Whole Foods enthusiast in Long Beach, Calif., told ABCNews.com that he, too, will turn to other organic groceries for his weekly shopping list.

“I’m boycotting [Whole Foods] because all Americans need health care,” said Lent, 33, who used to visit his local Whole Foods “several times a week.”

“While Mackey is worried about health care and stimulus spending, he doesn’t seem too worried about expensive wars and tax breaks for the wealthy and big businesses such as his own that contribute to the deficit,” said Lent.

 I must admit, I thought Whole Foods was run by a Liberal (apparently most of their customers did, too).  So what did he write that was so terrible?

• Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs).

• Equalize the tax laws so that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax benefits.

• Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines.

• Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover.

• Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

• Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care treatments cost.

• Enact Medicare reform.

• 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.

"I've been supporting a Conservative company?!?"

It all sounds very reasonable to me.  And Mackey speaks from experience as his company already provides healthcare insurance to 89% of of his employees (they must work 30 or more hours per week):

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 “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.

What is so ironic is this part:

The op-ed piece, which begins with a Margaret Thatcher quote, “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money,” has left some Whole Foods loyalists enraged. Many say Mackey was out of line to opine against the liberal base that has made his fortune possible.

Christine Taylor, a 34-year-old New Jersey shopper, vowed never to step foot in another Whole Foods again.

“I will no longer be shopping at Whole Foods,” Taylor told ABCNews.com. “I think a CEO should take care that if he speaks about politics, that his beliefs reflect at least the majority of his clients.”

I think what it comes down to is the Liberals think when a company owner speaks out and they agree that they are “doing the right thing” but when they disagree all of the sudden they should be quiet.

One can only hope that now Conservatives will start shopping at Whole Foods.  I applaud Mackey for his courage and laugh at Liberals who all this time thought they were supporting one of their own.

Related posts:

The Irony: Obama Does Not Want to Subsidize People
Which Brain is Working on Healthcare?
Healthcare in France
Exploring Liberal Myths: Healthcare
Congress Won’t Take the Medicine They Prescribe
Fun Facts About Socialized Healthcare!