OUR VIEW: Reverse boycott; shop Whole Foods

Tea parties are great, but free trade is greater. If you love freedom, free enterprise and the United States, and you are socially conscious, please shop at Whole Foods. It is arguably the best grocery chain in the United States, and a symbol of what one great entrepreneur can do with an idea, passion, commitment, and a garage in which to get started.

The prices are slightly higher than at some conventional markets. That’s because the food is better. In a free market economy, we get what we pay for. That goes for food, clothing, shelter and health care.

The best reason to shop at Whole Foods is to protest an organized and mostly unsuccessful boycott that resulted after company co-founder and CEO John Mackey wrote an Aug. 11 article for the Wall Street Journal that suggested an alternative to President Barack Obama’s voodoo-magic health care idea.

Mackey began his editorial with a famous quote from former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”

Anyone with an inkling of economic wisdom knows this is true. No economy can survive when consumption exceeds production of wealth in the form of services and goods. A government plan that promises to increase consumption, and includes components that would reduce production, is destined to fail.

Mackey, genuinely concerned about the welfare of a country that afforded him the chance to succeed, explained his company’s health care plan and suggested removal of regulatory obstacles that prevent Americans in other circumstances from enjoying similar plans.

Whole Foods employees who work 30 hours or more each week are eligible for the company’s health plan. As part of an employee’s compensation, Whole Foods pays 100 percent of the premium. The plan centers on a high-deductible health insurance policy. The insurance pays no claims in a year until an employee has paid for $2,500 worth of health care. It means each employee uses his or her own money for the small stuff. Insurance covers high-priced treatments for major injuries, serious diseases or a spate of small problems.

Because they pay their own way for routine medical consumption, Whole Foods employees have a financial incentive to eat good food, exercise, get good sleep, and avoid excessive use of alcohol and drugs. By staying healthy, they save their own money. They also have incentive to shop for good prices when seeking health care.

To help them pay for small medical bills not covered by the catastrophic policy, Whole Foods contributes up to $1,800 a year to each employee’s “Personal Wellness Account,” a health savings account in which contributions are tax-free. The company contribution eases and can quickly eliminate the burden of the $2,500 deductible, while enhancing the incentive to remain healthy. That’s because the employee owns the money, which can roll over from year-to-year, and grow. All businesses should study the Whole Foods model and consider offering it.

Mackey also suggested revision of tax laws that benefit corporate employees and harm individuals who need to buy insurance on the open market. He suggested a repeal of state laws that impede interstate competition among health insurance companies, as competition lowers prices. He recommended a repeal of government mandates that reduce consumer choice when selecting health insurance; tort reform that would lower liability overhead for doctors and hospitals; enhanced medical billing transparency; and tax forms that would simplify tax-deductible donations to help the uninsured.

A nation’s wealth, including its health care goods and services, isn’t something that occurs magically. We won’t have more health care simply because an articulate president wishes it were so. Like all goods and services, health care has limits. That’s why health care isn’t a right. It is no more a right than a gun is a right. While our right to keep and bear arms may not be infringed, we have no right to be provided a gun.

“Even in countries like Canada and the U.K., there is no intrinsic right to health care,” Mackey wrote. “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.”

“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.”

Better health care wisdom has never been written. For his trouble, a handful of leftists, who seem to view health care as manna from heaven, organized a Whole Foods boycott. What next? Why not food as a right? Government could buy Whole Foods — somehow stock it with organic produce, meat and cheese — and promise equal access to quality food. It’s no more ridiculous than government health care.

Shop at Whole Foods, and use your money as a vote for freedom, choice and the American way.