Josh-Izums & Josh-Epinions

"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out
of other people's money."

—Margaret Thatcher


With a projected $1.8 trillion deficit for 2009, several trillions more in deficits projected over the next decade, and with both Medicare and Social Security entitlement spending about to ratchet up several notches over the next 15 years as Baby Boomers become eligible for both, we are rapidly running out of other people's money. These deficits are simply not sustainable. They are either going to result in unprecedented new taxes and inflation, or they will bankrupt us.

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. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction—toward less government control and more individual empowerment. Here are eight reforms that would greatly lower the cost of health care for everyone:

Chad Crowe
• Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs). The combination of high-deductible health insurance and HSAs is one solution that could solve many of our health-care problems. 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.

Money not spent in one year rolls over to the next and grows over time. Our team members therefore spend their own health-care dollars until the annual deductible is covered (about $2,500) and the insurance plan kicks in. This creates incentives to spend the first $2,500 more carefully. Our plan's costs are much lower than typical health insurance, while providing a very high degree of worker satisfaction.

• Equalize the tax laws so that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax benefits. Now employer health insurance benefits are fully tax deductible, but individual health insurance is not. This is unfair.

• Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines. We should all have the legal right to purchase health insurance from any insurance company in any state and we should be able use that insurance wherever we live. Health insurance should be portable.

• Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover. These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance by billions of dollars. What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual customer preferences and not through special-interest lobbying.

• Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. These costs are passed back to us through much higher prices for health care.

• Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care treatments cost. How many people know the total cost of their last doctor's visit and how that total breaks down? What other goods or services do we buy without knowing how much they will cost us?

• Enact Medicare reform. We need to face up to the actuarial fact that Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy and enact reforms that create greater patient empowerment, choice and responsibility.

• Finally, revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren't covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Many promoters of health-care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care—to equal access to doctors, medicines and hospitals. While all of us empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have to food or shelter?

Health care is a service that we all need, but just like food and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges. 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

Even in countries like Canada and the U.K., there is no intrinsic right to health care. Rather, citizens in these countries are told by government bureaucrats what health-care treatments they are eligible to receive and when they can receive them. All countries with socialized medicine ration health care by forcing their citizens to wait in lines to receive scarce treatments.

Although Canada has a population smaller than California, 830,000 Canadians are currently waiting to be admitted to a hospital or to get treatment, according to a report last month in Investor's Business Daily. In England, the waiting list is 1.8 million.

At Whole Foods we allow our team members to vote on what benefits they most want the company to fund. Our Canadian and British employees express their benefit preferences very clearly—they want supplemental health-care dollars that they can control and spend themselves without permission from their governments. Why would they want such additional health-care benefit dollars if they already have an "intrinsic right to health care"? The answer is clear—no such right truly exists in either Canada or the U.K.—or in any other country.

Rather than increase government spending and control, we need to address the root causes of poor health. This begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for his or her own health.

Unfortunately many of our health-care problems are self-inflicted: two-thirds of Americans are now overweight and one-third are obese. Most of the diseases that kill us and account for about 70% of all health-care spending—heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity—are mostly preventable through proper diet, exercise, not smoking, minimal alcohol consumption and other healthy lifestyle choices.

Recent scientific and medical evidence shows that a diet consisting of foods that are plant-based, nutrient dense and low-fat will help prevent and often reverse most degenerative diseases that kill us and are expensive to treat. We should be able to live largely disease-free lives until we are well into our 90s and even past 100 years of age.

Health-care reform is very important. Whatever reforms are enacted it is essential that they be financially responsible, and that we have the freedom to choose doctors and the health-care services that best suit our own unique set of lifestyle choices. We are all responsible for our own lives and our own health. We should take that responsibility very seriously and use our freedom to make wise lifestyle choices that will protect our health. Doing so will enrich our lives and will help create a vibrant and sustainable American society.

STAGE 1 - SMART
















This is when you suddenly become an expert on every subject in the known Universe, including but not limited to; solving world hunger, economic reform, civil war resolution on any continent, international terrorism and espionage containment. You know - you know everything and want to pass on your knowledge to anyone who will listen including parties with whom you have no affiliation. At this stage you are always RIGHT. And of course, the person you are talking to is very WRONG. This makes for an interesting argument when both parties are SMART.


STAGE 2 - GOOD LOOKING

This is when you realize that you are the BEST LOOKING person in the entire bar and that everyone is looking at you and only you. You can go up to a perfect stranger knowing they fancy you and really want to talk to you and probably are undressing you with their eyes. Bear in mind that you are still SMART, so you can talk to this person about any subject under the sun and still not be taken advantage of.

STAGE 3 - RICH
This is when you suddenly become the richest person in the world. Everything you ever wanted to own is now on your owned assets list. Your car collection has grown from a 1987 Honda Accord to 3 Ferrari's a Porche Boxter, 2 custom classics and a Harley Davidson softail that is number 13 of 20. You can buy drinks for the entire bar because you have an armored truck full of money parked behind the bar you have slept with Angelina Jolie, Jessica Alba and Catherine Zeta just last night and you expect a call from Jessica Simpson because she is no longer dating Tony Romo. You can also make bets at this stage, because of course, you are still SMART, so naturally you win all your bets. It doesn't matter how much you bet because you are RICH. You will also buy drinks for everyone that you fancy, because now you are the BEST LOOKING person in the world with nothing but options.

STAGE 4 - BULLETPROOF

You are now ready to sing like a rock star. You can Karaoke with Jon Bonjovi, Charlie Daniels or even as someone as complicated as Weird Al Yankovitch. No matter which song or which artist - your vocal prowess flows as smooth as silk. You now pick fights with anyone and everyone especially those with whom you have been betting or arguing or battling on the Karaoke floor. This is because nothing can hurt you. At this point you can also go up to the partners of the people who you fancy and challenge to a battle of wits or money. You have no fear of losing this battle because you are SMART, you are RICH and hell, you're BETTER LOOKING than they are anyway!


STAGE 5 - INVISIBLE & INVINCIBLE

This is the Final Stage of Drunkenness and the most fun for everyone that can't see you. At this point you can do anything because NO ONE CAN SEE YOU - not even God. You dance on a table to impress the people who you fancy because the rest of the people in the room cannot see you, including the husband of the girl you are trying to impress. You are also invisible to the person who wants to fight you and you will never fear being embarrassed should you do a complete nose dive and land directly on your grill. You can walk through the street after leaving the bar you are at while singing at the top of your lungs, slip and break an arm or other body part because you can't feel pain and no one can see or hear you. All of this and you are still the smartest, best looking, bulletproof, richest and most invincible person in the entire planet.

Women are constantly changing roles and sometimes they feel that they cannot cope with keeping all these roles going. As a result women often tend to feel quite lost and hopeless. The secret to keep the balance is not about playing the roles without fault but it is about enjoying them and being at peace with. Here are the different faces of woman - explained in a way that men can understand.