The Whole Foods Health Care Boycott Saga

John Mackey, what were you thinking?

CEOs are paid big bucks to be smart, savvy operators, but a couple weeks ago, Mr. Mackey, who’s the CEO and one of the co-founders of Whole Foods (Stock Quote: WFMI), did something which was, in our estimation, incomprehensible.

Here’s what happened: Mr. Mackey wrote a column for The Wall Street Journal on Aug. 11 in which he voiced his opposition to President Obama’s health care reform plan. He outlined a number of measures he thought prudent, some of which were directly based on his experiences as CEO.

“The combination of high-deductible health insurance and HSAs is one solution that could solve many of our health-care problems,” he writes “For example, Whole Foods Market pays 100% of the premiums for all our team members who work 30 hours or more per week (about 89% of all team members) for our high-deductible health-insurance plan. We also provide up to $1,800 per year in additional health-care dollars through deposits into employees' Personal Wellness Accounts to spend as they choose on their own health and wellness.”

His most provocative statements come toward the end of the column.

“A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That's because there isn't any. This ‘right’ has never existed in America.”

Strong stuff.

What’s incomprehensible about Mr. Mackey’s piece is not the nature of his ideas; rather, it’s the fact that his ideas are very much at odds with the sentiments of so many of Whole Foods’ customers. It’s like the president of Harley Davidson Motorcycles suggesting that tattoos be banned. It’s just not good for business ... or your career.

TheDailyKos's Aptoklas, an attorney, Democratic committeeman and boycott supporter, describes Whole Foods customers this way:

"The typical Whole Foods customer tends to be educated, liberal and urbane and I would venture to guess supportive of President Obama and his attempt to reform healthc are so the richest country on earth no longer has a health care system ranked 37 in terms of coverage and efficiency."