Last week John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that was similar to throwing gasoline on an already fiery debate. Mackey’s company is suffering a progressive boycot being organized on wholeboycott.com and its related Facebook page. A recent Huffington Post article covered this would lead you to believe that his only suggestion was to eat healthy with foods sold at his store. As circumstance would have it, this is far from his only suggestion. There were actually seven:
-
- Equalize the tax laws
- Repeal state laws to allowing competition across state lines
- Repeal government mandates
- Enact tort reform
- Transparent costs
- Reform Medicare
- Revise tax forms to allow donations
Mackey, I believe has been quoted as being Libertarian, outlines some excellent ideas for reforming the system by increasing competition and allowing more consumer choices. Mackey may be on to something because tort reform is an idea that is proving to be successful in, you guessed it, Texas. According to this article, Why Doctors Are Heading for Texas, at the Wall Street Journal in May of 2008:
In 2003 and in 2005, Texas enacted a series of reforms to the state’s civil justice system. They are stunning in their success. Texas Medical Liability Trust, one of the largest malpractice insurance companies in the state, has slashed its premiums by 35%, saving doctors some $217 million over four years. There is also a competitive malpractice insurance industry in Texas, with over 30 companies competing for business. This is driving rates down.
The article goes on to describe some of the benefits that have occurred because of these changes:
This has allowed doctors and hospitals to cut costs and even increase the resources devoted to charity care. Take Christus Health, a nonprofit Catholic health system across the state. Thanks to tort reform, over the past four years Christus saved $100 million that it otherwise would have spent fending off bogus lawsuits or paying higher insurance premiums. Every dollar saved was reinvested in helping poor patients.
Read the rest of the article and this one: Doctors Flock to Texas After Tort Reform as there is quite a bit more information in it on how the system works and more of the positive effects it is having, especially in poor and rural areas. So before people lambast Mackey’s ideas, maybe, just maybe they should explore the possibility that he has some valid points to add to the debate. An alternative Facebook page supporting Mackey and Whole Foods can be found here.
Michelle Malkin continues coverage of Mackey’s story here
