The Washington Times has a story today about problems with the EMS ambulances in Washington D.C. It’s primarily a local story (Washington Times is a local newspaper in addition to trying to have a national audience), but it has clear national implications.
Washington DC is peculiar in the entire country in that it is a city run by the Federal Government. D.C. is not part of Maryland or Virginia – the city gets its funding from Congress. The normal city funding model of using Property Taxes can’t work in D.C. because so much of the real estate is owned by the Federal Government and cities and states are not allowed to tax the Federal Government.
The District sent its paramedics off to be evaluated to see how evaluate there ability to perform life saving tasks were. Only three of 95 paramedics tested had passing scores for entry level paramedics.
What has been the ciy’s reaction? They threatened to take legal action against the Washington Times for disclosing the results of the testing.
Welcome to your new heath care system, America.