As part of budget vote, D.C. lawmakers opt to close city's public hospital within four years
D.C. lawmakers voted Tuesday to close the District’s only public hospital within four years, ending six decades of turbulent history at the only full-service hospital in the low-income and predominantly African American neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River.
The closure of United Medical Center, accompanied by funding restrictions that could dramatically scale back services at the hospital in its final years, was part of the $15.5 billion budget approved by the council for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
The local portion of the budget controlled by city officials will be $8.6 billion, a 9.3 percent increase over current spending. The remainder of the budget is federal or other forms of special funding. The council must vote a second and final time on the budget later this month.
D.C. Council Member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7), who proposed the closure of UMC, said it would limit the city’s losses at the hospital — which in recent years has required tens of millions in taxpayer bailouts — as the District prepares to open a new hospital in Southeast.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-lawmakers-vote-to-close-citys-public-hospital-within-four-years/2019/05/14/85415b92-765d-11e9-b3f5-5673edf2d127_story.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
