[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 68 (Thursday, May 17, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E845]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    KEEP D.C. GENERAL HOSPITAL OPEN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DAVID E. BONIOR

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 17, 2001

  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, we, as a nation, spend more on health care 
than any other country in the world. Yet, we have 43 million uninsured 
people and our working families continue to struggle to obtain quality 
and affordable care. And now, in our nation's capitol, there are 
efforts to close down the last remaining public hospital in the city, 
D.C. General. The closure of public hospitals around our nation and 
D.C. General, in particular, should be of concern to us all.
  In Michigan, our public hospitals continue to serve patients and 
communities with dignity and with the belief that all people have the 
right to health care. These public hospitals provide our uninsured and 
underinsured working men and women with the quality and essential 
health care they deserve. D.C. General has been serving the people of 
Washington, D.C. since 1806, and the care it provides is crucial for 
residents of the nation's capitol.
  I am deeply concerned with the impact the closure of this hospital 
will have on the residents of Washington, D.C. In Detroit and other 
urban and rural communities, affordable and reliable health care is 
becoming hard to find. Our public hospitals serve local communities 
without prejudice and are the only source of care millions in this 
nation can rely on. Now, the people of Washington, D.C. will have no 
choice but to turn to private hospitals for their health care--
hospitals that base their care on a person's financial status and 
ability to pay.
  Those who advocate closing D.C. General are concerned that the 
hospital has woefully inadequate funds to operate. The financial 
situation of this and other public hospitals is severely impacted by 
Congress' unwillingness to provide additional resources and the fact 
our public hospitals serve most of our uninsured and poor. The plight 
of D.C. General is just one example of what will happen if we do not 
stand up immediately and support our public hospitals.
  I am also deeply troubled by the process that determined the fate of 
D.C. General Hospital. Through the use of an unelected financial 
control board, those wishing to see the hospital closed overrode the 
democratically-elected D.C. City Council, who unanimously opposed the 
closure of the hospital. In 1999, a similar situation occurred in 
Detroit, when Lansing lawmakers dissolved the elected city school board 
and appointed a supervisory board, unaccountable to the citizens of 
Detroit. The Detroit school takeover and the D.C. control board's 
actions should be of concern to all Americans. Both these actions 
denied citizens a voice in the decisions affecting their lives. Our 
compassion and resolve to ensure quality health care and education for 
all must not be compromised by an unelected body which is accountable 
to no one.
  Today, I join many of my colleagues in Congress, community leaders in 
my home state and from around our great nation, and champions in the 
Michigan State Legislature in urging that D.C. General be kept open and 
accessible to the people of Washington, D.C.

                          ____________________