Bake Sale To Pay For Infant's Medical Bills - Whole Food's CEO Would Blame The Baby's Family

Remember when John Mackey, Whole Food's CEO, wrote the following in the WSJ:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html

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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.

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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.

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John MacKay's claims are difficult to reconcile with the daily stories appearing in locals news (but not national media) such as the following:

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20090919/NEWS/909190303/1001/news

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On Sunday in Salem, not only will money be raised to help with medical expenses for Kaden Konz, but his parents also will be able thank all the people who have supported them through the past 11 months.

A benefit breakfast, silent auction and bake sale is slated from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Salem Armory for Matt and Tammy Konz and their 11-month-old son, Kaden, who has had multiple health complications since being adopted. The funds are being raised to help with the family's medical bills.

"It is overwhelming the people who have come together to do this," Tammy Konz said. "You have to swallow your pride to allow someone to do this great thing."

Her husband, Matt Konz, said it is difficult to believe that there are so many people out there who care about Kaden.

"With all the medical procedures and long neo-natal intensive care stay that Kaden had in Utah, and his additional medical issues and hospital stays since coming home, the medical expenses are overwhelming," said Rosalie Riswold-Brende, who has become close friends since Matt Konz started teaching in the Baltic School District. "By having the benefit, we hope to alleviate that burden somewhat so Matt, Tammy and Kaden can enjoy being a family and grow the wonderful relationship of mother, father and son."
When Kaden was born, he was having trouble breathing and was found to have underdeveloped lungs. He was moved to a larger hospital in Utah and received medication to develop his lungs.

The Konzes expected to stay about two weeks, but then the family found out that Kaden was having tissue problems in his intestinal tract and bowel. Kaden was cut off all feedings for 14 days and given nutrients internally to keep him alive.

He was in the hospital from Oct. 13 to Nov. 16. Since then, Kaden has been in the emergency room at least seven times for breathing problems.
"We have seen improvements the last several months," Tammy Konz said. "We haven't been in the hospital since April."

Kaden will get better within the next two years and there should be no long-term effects, according to the Konzes.
Tammy Konz said the ordeal has been tough.

"Being that far away from home without family and friends was difficult," she said.

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be able to concentrate fully on the health and well-being of their child.

In a civilized society, stories like the Konze's would be unheard of.

everything would be fine.

Typical limousine conservatism.

Was a car wash to pay the medical bills for one of the LA Fitness shooting victims who lacked health insurance.

And a plea for donations at a shooting event for a girl to have a pacemaker installed where last October the range was a sea of McCain/Palin t-shirts, hats & bumper stickers.

her boyfriend's friend. The boyfriend is semi-conservative and has lots of Republican dumbass rightwing friends who think the government is out to soak them and take all their money. Meanwhle they're forking over money to help pay this woman's bills. Go figure.

they'd be twice as dumb....( the repugs)

to keep their kid alive. But what makes me even more livid is that fuckwad Mackey spouting that shit about Canada's system. Up there that kid would be at the front of the line and it would cost the parents NOTHING>>>>ZIP>>>>> NADA! I get so tired of some shit head from a right wing BUSINESS rag puking crap like that up as if he's some kind of expert because he lives and breathes and prospers at the expense of the lives of others! And just because the "story" was in some right wing, wall street, I-don't-give-a-fuck-about-the-common-man conservative propaganda paper that only the rich and arrogant read. it doesn't mean shit!

The fact is that the government tells you one thing in a Universal system, you have the right to full, free, 100%, no fee or co-pay health insurance, and instantanious immediate care if life threatening. Anybody that waits up there, and there is waiting lists for non emergency illness, still gets treatment in a timely manner, and it is NOT 830,000! I don't know where he drummed that number up, probably pulled it out of his ass, because there is no way of knowing how many people wait, it's a confidential system! You can'tphone somebody up and ask stuff like that!
The other fact is that the system doesn't dictate the waiting times and scarcity of treatment. That is a result of the PRIVATE system up there, doctors, hospitals, and clinics, most of which are private and NOT "socialist", not being up to the task of supporting the work load, in other words, it's the availability of facilities to treat people. If the Government would be allowed to compete up there and build more hospitals and such, there wouldn't be that problem. I can tell you that, being from there, it was years of Conservative governments underfunding the system and closing hospitals to allow opening up the private markets, who are dragging their heels, was what created the problem, back in the Reagan era.

It's fucking CRIMINAL what those people are going through, and as far as I am concerned, far more of a moral issue than the fucking Christers and their god damn anti-abortion agenda. When are these so called people of God and Jesus going to develop enough brain cells in their skulls to see that there are live human beings being systematically murdered by insurance corporations and psychos in the GOP who are only interested in being rich and right?:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: Every one of those shit heads should be made to watch some kid die from lack of health care due to pre existing conditions! (Not that I wish that to ever happen)

He's already had the necessary medical treatment, they're just now paying the bills. They're not "waiting" for treatment in this case. Unless they come and kill them when they can't pay bills?

From a conservative perspective (my fiancee's), there is a very big difference between paying taxes for universal coverage ("if there's even much left after all the bureauracracy") and donating money directly to a member of your community who you know, love and respect.

vs. having a bake sale to raise $5 at a pop to avoid the poor house.

Your finacee (sic) is a classic example of what is wrong with this country.

or rather what your fiance is saying, that it would cost more to have universal coverage through taxes than to just have everybody in the community "donate" to people when they get sick? There is actually no difference. The way universal coverage works, is that everybody pays through taxes, and everybody gets coverage. The difference is, that the amount that people are taxed in say, Canada is a fraction of what we pay down here for premiums. The other thing is, there are no other costs! You don't keep getting bills after the insurance company has paid their "share" If that kid would have been under a universal plan like Canada's, there would be no "Bake Sales" to cover the co-pays and fees not covered by the so called insurance we have down here. People up there have a higher standard of living, because even though taxes are higher for things like medical, there are no bankruptcies due to extra costs, and the extra income saved by the absence of astronomical co-pays and refusal of coverage goes to every day expenses like food clothing and shelter.

it's easy to say they're shit out of luck, some of us think we can be better than that.