As as a small business owner, I have to purchase individual health insurance. It is so outrageously expensive, that I am close to canceling my health insurance every month because it is putting us into debt (I haven't been on a vacation in years & I spend very little, but our health insurance costs as much as our rent). Obviously I know that canceling it would put us at greater financial risk if either of us should get sick, so I try to hang on. I have no doubt that the rates will continue to climb much higher if we don't have a universal health care OPTION. It strikes me as greedy that anybody would want to take away that OPTION from me. If you have great health insurance through your employer or you're wealthy and can afford the high premiums, that's great, and you are welcome to keep your plans. But why take away my chance at being able to afford health insurance? I need the option to use the universal health care plan. The CEO of Whole Foods doesn't want me to have that option? Well, then I can't afford to shop at Whole Foods anymore regardless of whether or not I boycott because my rates will continue to climb very fast. So, I'm cutting Whole Foods out of my budget now. I'm joining the boycott. I can't support a company that is THAT greedy at it's foundation. There are sellers on eBay and Amazon who sell what I need anyway, plus the local farmers market. Whole Foods is supposed to be about healthy options, but they obviously don't value healthy OPTIONS when it comes to our nation's health care.

I can appreciate your stance on this issue. However, your polarizing words are unappealing. This has nothing to do with throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Please. People are angry about Mackey's stance on healthcare, and rightly so. I read his article in the WSJ (by the way, WSJ is owned by NewsCorp, same company that owns FOX news, yeah. Maybe you should do some research before assuming that WSJ is a benign and reasonable entity??).

Mackey is pretty clear that he does not believe that healthcare is an intrinsic right (much like food and shelter he stated, but we don't make sure to provide those things to everyone do we so why start with healthcare?). This is disconcerting to me. I don't feel good about the Whole Foods brand and I don't intend to shop there for the time being. I read a rebuttal letter to Mackey from one of the co-founders of WF that I thought was brilliant.

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/blog_posts/295…

So, clearly Mackey's opinions are his own and do not reflect the totality of what WF as a store represents. But honestly, people are fed up and angry and feel helpless around this debate. What are we to do when this man that supposedly runs a company we have trusted all these years comes out with such views? In the WSJ no less (FOX!)?

No, Mackey is not WF. But his views are alarming and for a company that has built their rep on trust, health and the greater good…well, it just feels like a betrayal. That doesn't make me want to step into the store. I could change my mind over time and once again resume going there but for now it feels better to me to stay away. There are plenty of farmer's markets to source from here (Berkeley, Ca).

So please, you may feel that this is throwing "the baby out with the bathwater" but I say- how about letting people feel how they feel for the time being and support them for wanting a real option for themselves and their countrymen?? You cannot completely de-couple Mackey's views from the WF store itself. Right now I look at the WF brand and my stomach just turns a bit. Like I said, this could change (as things tend to do), but for now we could use your support in at least acknowledging what is happening here- a betrayal to the WF brand, an attack on the narrative that we have been sold by the very person who represents the place.