THE WHOLE FOODS CONTROVERSY

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey wrote an opinion in the Wall Street Journal proposing an alternative to ObamaCare. His recommendations:

• 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 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.
• 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.

The progressives, who want nothing less than single-payer, Government-sponsored, "free" healthcare went berserk, declared Mackey treasonous to the cause and called for an immediate boycott.



Conservatives cheered and called for a "buycott".

Mackey's proposals are eminently sensible, and could form the core of a health insurance reform effort that I could support.