Supporters of President Obama’s plans for healthcare “reform” have pledged to boycott the grocery chain Whole Foods. They are in an uproar over an article in the Wall Street Journal written by its CEO, John Mackey.
If you haven’t read it yet, you should. In the piece Mr. Mackey suggests that the cause of today’s healthcare woes is not greedy corporate executives but misguided government regulation. He backs this up by identifying eight different reforms that would decrease costs by increasing freedom. You may be surprised at some of the laws on the books. Some suggestions from the article:
- Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines. We should all have the legal right to purchase health insurance from any insurance company in any state and we should be able use that insurance wherever we live. Health insurance should be portable.
- Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover. These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance by billions of dollars. What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual customer preferences and not through special-interest lobbying.
What the Obama administration proposes is the opposite: less individual choice, more tax-based “incentives”, and more government spending. The left will never agree to remove restrictions on doctors and insurers so long as they believe that those providers are bound by the “right” of citizens to healthcare services. To understand the crucial problem with that notion, we suggest once more that you read Leonard Peikoff’s essay on the topic.
