New York, NY –
Supporters of a single payer health care system are hoping they can make Whole Foods CEO John Mackey change his position against government run health care. Josh Starcher is with Single Payer Action, an advocacy group handing out fliers in front of the Union Square Whole Foods today. He says Whole Foods customers should know where its CEO stands.
STARCHER: It's self defeating for progressives to support a company whose CEO stands against universal, single payer health care. And we believe his reckless and heartless comments should not be rewarded with our profits.
The Whole Foods CEO wrote in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, that health care is not a "right"' included in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. Instead, the CEO says America could ease its health care crisis by imitating his company's own, high-deductible health insurance plan.
Whole Foods shopper and single payer opponent, Elisa Campbell echoed the CEO's sentiment, that health care is a personal responsibility.
CAMPBELL: The mentality is wrong. It's about you taking care of your self. Not about the government taking care of you, it's an insane concept.
A Whole Foods spokesman says the company stands behind the CEO's right to offer his opinion on the health care debate, just as all Americans do.
Jenna Flanagan has been an Associate Producer and contributing reporter for WNYC's All Things Considered, local news since 2006. Prior to that, she worked for 3 years as a general assignment reporter for the WBGO news department and won a Garden State Association of Black Journalists award.
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