by Run75411
Healthcare Reform; Socialism or Fascism?
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey in 2009 originally called President Obama’s healthcare plan a form of Socialism while writing an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal:
“The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” Margaret Thatcher”
and added to Thatcher’s statement:
“While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system,” he wrote.
Mackey joins other CEO’s (Papa Johns, Olive Garden, Applebees, etc.) (Raising the Cost of Pizza 10 to 14 cents); who refuse to understand the need for healthcare reform, support a commercial healthcare insurance and industry solution even though both have done little to voluntarily rein in costs, are willing to penalize their employees for the PPACA, and ignore the results of doing nothing and associated increased costs. Since Hillarycare (1994), the industry has ignored increasing costs and has not provided solutions to mitigate them. As shown in Figure 1 annual healthcare cost has grown much faster than inflation. Figure 4 shows the increase in House hold expenditures since 1994 when Hillarycare was considered.
“American Healthcare since 1994” Center for American Progress
Recently during an NPR interview, John Mackey changed his opinion calling the PPACA fascism instead of Socialism:
“Technically speaking, it’s more like fascism. Socialism is where the government owns the means of production. In fascism, the government doesn’t own the means of production, but they do control it — and that’s what’s happening with our health care programs and these reforms.” Obamacare Is Fascist, Not Socialist
In a short period after labeling the PPACA as fascism, John Mackey reconsiders his words after a public uproar and retracted his name-calling of President Obama as a fascist and the PPACA as fascism. All of this from a Liberal now turned Libertarian.
“The term fascism today stirs up too much negative emotion with its horrific associations in the 20th century,” he said.
“I believe that, if the goal is universal health care, our country would be far better served by combining free enterprise capitalism with a strong governmental safety net for our poorest citizens and those with preexisting conditions, helping everyone to be able to buy insurance. This is what Switzerland does and I think we would be much better off copying that system than where we are currently headed in the United States.“ Whole Foods CEO Regrets . . .”
It has only been since the passage of the PPACA (see S&P Healthcare Indices) has the healthcare industry begun to rein in costs as reflected in Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHPS through efficiencies. Much of this is due to the healthcare industry rapidly preparing for the 2014 final implementation of the PPACA. More will come after 2014.
You would think this would be enough? At the same time, the Republicans are calling for cuts to the three programs to lower deficit spending; the President is offering to consider modest cuts and shows willingness to sell-out the citizens to achieve his Grand Deal. Cuts in any of the programs will do nothing to lower healthcare industry cost as these programs are a reflection of the industry. In the end, such a Grand Deal will lay the burden of healthcare costs on the elderly, the poor and the children of this nation. The “I Made This” John Mackeys of the world who became rich as a result his customers buying from Whole Foods will absolve themselves of any social responsibility.
