I agree with the DC council vote. No institution or group with deep ties to the city supported that bill as written. This would have sunk the city into a terrible health care crisis 10 yrs down the line bc there’s no way United Health Services (majority owners of GWU Hospital and a for profit org), would have taken care of a majority Medicaid population for an extended period of time. Their values are just not in line with that. Also adding hundreds of sub specialty beds to the already crowded NW health ecosystem makes no sense. Quiet as it’s kept, there is no primary care shortage in SE but there is a speciality shortage. Why GW demanded a 270 bed new sub specialty wing of their hospital in exchange for operating 150 bed hospital based around primary care services is obvious if you follow the money.

This bill was poorly written, opaque, and poorly thought out.

My hope is that this forces the city’s hand to take Howard up on their proposal, as they should have in the beginning. Howard was the only one who submitted their proposal on time anyway.

Easy explanation: the council members are kow-towing to unions. I assume those unions gave big to their campaigns last time around.

Indeed this should be up to the company and union as part of negotiations, not legislated by the Council.

I haven't been following the Council vote but reading the WaPo article, I don't understand the hard-line they took.

Many of these conditions would normally be part of the direct negotiations, and there will need to be some compromise. I am very pro-union but this seems ham-handed to me. Anyone able to explain it?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/george-washington-university-hospital-halts-talks-for-new-hospital-in-southeast-dc/2018/12/06/f20eb73c-f909-11e8-863a-8972120646e0_story.html?utm_term=.6dc483e903a1