Companies like Hannaford can upend this system, not by taking losses or writing checks they can't cash, but by telling customers the truth — how much they really need to charge to make a bit of a profit.
Naturally, Matt Paul, a very friendly and helpful spokesman for the Scarborough-based Hannaford Bros. company, was reluctant to give any details on how much profit the company actually makes. But he would say that instead of the insurance company setting the profit margin for its prescription plan, Hannaford was calling the shots on the costs in the Healthy Saver plan.
It's not enough to make healthcare affordable on its own, but it's a big start.
Related:
Cheap thrills, Rock and rote, The Big Hurt: Pop eroticism, faux sincerity, and sperm motility, More 
- Cheap thrills
Summertime inevitably raises the question: what are we going to do with our crazy, hot selves? Summer Guide 2006: Cheap thrills from Bar Harbor to New Haven.
- Rock and rote
Three decades in, AC/DC’s conservatism pays off
- The Big Hurt: Pop eroticism, faux sincerity, and sperm motility
I am a man who loves a good corporate doofus, and this week's glistening-prize-hog-doofus quote goes to TOM WELCH , Wal-Mart's senior music buyer, who manages to make Foreigner sound even squarer than Foreigner.
- Review: Capitalism: A Love Story
In his new film about the Wall Street meltdown, Michael Moore — surprise! — denounces capitalism and its exploitation of the working class. Not that he's above doing a little exploiting himself.
- 2009: The year in books
Here, listed alphabetically by author, are 10 of the best books the Phoenix reviewed in 2009.
- Corporate Persons Are Jerks
"Your cancer is making me rich!"
- From deli to concert hall
If you're a young (or youngish) music fan looking to become a little bit more engaged with classical music, there is truly no better time than right now, particularly if you'll find yourself in Portland this weekend.
- Walking on broken glass
There must be some kind of law that kicks in whenever a prominent politician leaves office, requiring every columnist and pundit to blather on at length about the triumphs and tragedies of that esteemed figure's checkered career.
- Attack on the middle class!
The remarkable thing about the American middle class is that we still have one, given the job losses, housing bust, and 401(k) wipeout of the past three years — and considering that for 35 years, politicians (and the bankers who own them) have been hammering away at middle-class institutions.
- Review: Darul Kabab
The latest evidence for the encouraging trend of Indian-restaurant diversity: the debut of Darul Kabab, a Cambridge spot that features halal Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Northern Indian fare, prepared by a chef from Delhi.
- Privatizing space: Houston, we have profit!
The best of all super-sized worlds head to outer space.
- Less
Topics:
News Features
, cheap, Wal-Mart, Hannaford
