[A report from] the House Oversight and Reform Committee released Friday finds that the Trump administration overpaid by as much as $500 million for ventilators and was slow to respond to an offer to accelerate shipments in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Hill
That's $500 MILLION.
The report finds that the Trump administration paid the manufacturer Philips $15,000 per ventilator, more than any other American purchaser. Some purchasers buying as few as just one ventilator negotiated prices down to as low as $9,327 per ventilator, the report said.
[...]
“The Trump Administration’s mishandling of ventilator procurement for the nation’s stockpile cost the American people dearly during the worst public health crisis of our generation,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the chairman of the Oversight and Reform subcommittee that did the report, said in a statement.
“Not only did the Administration jeopardize the health and safety of the American people — but it squandered more than half-a-billion dollars that could have been used to better support our nation’s crisis response efforts.”
[...]
The original contract was for 10,000 ventilators and made in 2014. It was delayed, but an extension given by the Obama administration had a deadline of November 2019, the committee said, in time for the pandemic.
The Trump administration gave three additional extensions in 2017 and 2018, the report said. “Had the Trump Administration held Philips to the terms of the Obama-era contract, the country would have had 10,000 ventilators that it needed when the coronavirus crisis struck,” the committee said.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
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