health care rally

Covered a protest outside of the the Prospect Street Whole Foods Market on Friday afternoon spurred by company CEO John Mackey's Op/Ed in the Wall Street Journal. A crowd of people very upset by Mackey's call for more individual responsibility regarding health care, as opposed to Obama's interest in a government-funded public option. In his letter, Mackey encouraged high-deductible insurance plans coupled with health savings accounts as an alternative, a system that he says works well for Whole Foods employees. Protesters stressed, of course, that system is not affordable and available to all. They were also pretty riled up by Mackey's statement:

"A careful reading of the 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. That 'right' has never existed in America."

Oof. Along with Mackey's previous comments comparing labor unions to herpes, he's certainly making some enemies.

An important thing to remember, though, is that Mackey's opinion is just that-his personal opinion and suggestions regarding reform, which he is free to express just as the protesters on Prospect Street are. With people boycotting Whole Foods, the company is currently trying to remind people that they don't actually have an official position on health care reform, because that seems to be a common mixup right now. Since Whole Foods is too expensive for my struggling-student budget anyway, I don't have to even worry about boycotting it in the first place. Now I'm on a health care kick, gobbling up articles and looking into different systems in other countries (spoke to a woman at the rally from the Netherlands who was interesting)!

Update: The full article from the protest is now posted, if you want to read some quotes!