Friday, August 14, 2009
Goor article on Health Care from co-founder of Whole Foods
Mackey doesn't really offer any details to solutions (which I hate), but he summarizes the health problem (which I am guilty of) and the problem with the solution (which will bankrupt US I believe). I hold a similar opinion to his, that we need, need, need health care reform on costs (and pharmaceutical industry too, btw), but this system is not the solution. If the rotting corpse of Ronald Reagan tried to sell this program to me, it would stick just as badly, notwithstanding the stench of the aforementioned corpse.
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I'm not a big fan of the low-premium, high-deductible model. I was listening to Fresh Air the other night and they were interviewing a historian who had written a book about Wal-Mart. He said they save big on health care costs because most of their employees (teenagers, the elderly, people on their spouses' plans) aren't even on Wal-Mart's plan. Only 50% or so use it. And their deductibles can be as high as $3,000. I don't see how people working full-time (only 36 hours a week, by the way) are supposed to be able to fork over that much cash before their benefits kick in.
Yeah, I totally agree with you on walmart, although I am not sure why they are the first company people talk about. Everything they do from HR perspective is terrible. But, in the case of whole foods, they also give their employees $1800 towards the $2500 deductible in a HSA, which is taken out pre taxes, so it's effectiveness is more like $2000. That leaves a $500-700 true out of pocket costs. That seems fair, no?
That's fair.
What seems daunting to me about any attempt to reform and regulate the insurance and pharmaceutical companies is that there are so many lobbyists that the system seems hopelessly corrupt.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
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