Obamacare and Public Housing – Can We Expect the Same?

Which Would You Choose?
The Public Option	The Private Option
Grove Parc Plaza	Obama's House in Hyde Park

Liberals tell us that health care, like food, clothing and housing, is a basic human right. And that in a country as rich the United States no one should go without these basic human rights. This is the driving force behind the push for health care reform – there are 46 million people without insurance and that's just not fair (see Myth #3 below). We are one of the most compassionate, caring and giving nations in the world so we listen to the politicians and allow them to pass laws that legislate our compassion. We allow them to take our money and decide how best to give it to those that are less fortunate, while taking a good percentage off the top to pay for the administrative bureaucracy. If we complain we're labeled selfish and greedy.

So to take care of all of those poor uninsured people, Harry Reid has introduced a 2,000+ page health care "reform" bill that is now being debated in the Senate (the house has already passed their version of this debacle). There is plenty about this bill that should scare people, from the major "reforms" not taking effect until 2014 to the creation of a "Health Choices Commissioner" who will decide what benefits you must have in your insurance plan to young people being forced to buy health insurance (so much for no new taxes on people making under $250,000), but the biggest is the government's involvement and their ability to provide for the people who really need help.

The Federal government is not known for providing efficient and effective services (think Katrina, the Post Office, Welfare, the DMV). But what about the promises of "hope" and "change" made by President Obama? Where others have failed before he can certainly do better. Can't he? After all, he has a lot of experience providing the basic human right of housing for his constituents in the past. Surely, the man that wants to bring health care to 46 million uninsured people and make it more affordable for the rest of us would have a stellar record when it comes to housing for the poor. The man who promises hope and change for the country and a total revamp of our insurance industry and one-sixth of our economy must have brought similar hope and change to the poor people he represented in Chicago.

As it turns out, there was not so much hope but definitely change. One needs only to read a Boston Globe article from June 2008 entitle Grim proving ground for Obama's housing policy to see Obama's poor record on providing the basic human right of housing to his lower-income constituents. It provides an insight into the "health care" that might be provided by Obama and the Democrats in Congress. The article describes a public housing complex of 504 apartments called Grove Parc Plaza, a neighborhood represented by Barack Obama when he was a state senator. This complex is home to "people who can't afford to live anywhere else" – sounds a bit like those 47 million uninsured Americans we keep hearing about. However, in the opening paragraphs the article states:

But it's not safe to live here.

About 99 of the units are vacant, many rendered uninhabitable by unfixed problems, such as collapsed roofs and fire damage. Mice scamper through the halls. Battered mailboxes hang open. Sewage backs up into kitchen sinks.

Sewage in the kitchen sink!!! This is what Obama was able to deliver as a basic human right to his constituents – sewage in their kitchen sinks. Can you imagine what his version of health care will be like?

The article goes on to describe various relationships Obama had with developers that were responsible for public housing throughout his district and the poor conditions that their properties eventually wound up in. The Obama camp said that he knew nothing about the poor conditions but the article states that:

Obama sometimes worked on their cases. In at least one instance, he represented the nonprofit company that owned Grove Parc, Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp., when it was sued by the city for failing to adequately heat one of its apartment complexes.

I guess housing is a basic human right but heat in the winter is not. Again, can you imagine what his version of health care will be like?

Highlighted in the article is the millions of dollars that people made by providing a "basic human right". Our tax dollars (yes, much of it was federally funded) enriched many of Obama's associates in the name of being compassionate, caring and giving. It also enriched his campaign coffers as these developers donated money to him in return for his support. The most disturbing part of it is that this is the man that is promising to fundamentally change our health insurance. He wants to provide a "public option" for all of those poor people that cannot afford health insurance. A public option that many companies will "choose" for their employees. A public option that you may end up on. Think about it, do you really want health insurance provided by the government? Would you willingly give up your current coverage and take Medicaid?

Do you still think you have a choice? Once this health care bill is passed you will not have a choice. Once the government exchange is implemented in 4 years the Health Choices Commissioner will choose for you. The government will decide what minimum coverage you must have and you will either get that coverage or pay a fine. Your employer will choose to provide that coverage or pay a fine and force you to take the public option. The Health Choices Commissioner will decide what procedures will be covered. Remember the most recent guidelines for breast cancer screenings? Which one of your sisters, mothers, wives or daughters will not have this life-saving screening because the government has decided it is not necessary and it is no longer covered? Which cancer drug will the government deny because it is too costly? Keep in mind that the rich who will be supposedly be taxed to pay for all of this wonderful stuff will still have money to get private care while we're left with the public option.

After reading about Barack Obama's record on providing the basic human right of housing with sewage backing up into people's kitchen sinks and apartments with no heat in the winter (in Chicago!!!), do you trust him to provide your health insurance? Do you even want him involved in your health insurance? The article closes with a very prophetic quote from a housing activist in Chicago with regards to Obama. He says "I hope there is not much predictive value in his history and in his involvement with that community." I couldn't have said it better. Let's hope that the change Obama brings to our health care and insurance is not the same change he brought to the people in Grove Parc Plaza.