Whole Foods health care by John Mackey

[Guest guest]

AUGUST 11, 2009, 7:30 P.M. ET

The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare

Eight things we can do to improve health care without adding to the deficit.

BY JOHN MACKEY

" The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out

of other people's money. "

—Margaret Thatcher

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. That's

because there isn't any. This " right " 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 Investor's 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 " 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.

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.

Excerpt from

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html