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Company prioritizes $15k ventilators over cheaper model specified in contract:
The Dutch company that received millions of taxpayer dollars to develop an affordable ventilator for pandemics but never delivered them has struck a much more lucrative deal with the federal government to make 43,000 ventilators at four times the price.
The US Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday that it plans to pay Royal Philips N.V. $646.7 million for the new ventilators—paying more than $15,000 each. The first 2,500 units are to arrive before the end of May, HHS said, and the rest by the end of December.
Philips refused to say which model of ventilator the government was buying. But in response to questions from ProPublica, HHS officials said the government is purchasing the Trilogy EV300, the more expensive version of the ventilator that was developed with federal funds.
The deal is a striking departure from the federal contract Philips' Respironics division signed in September to produce 10,000 ventilators for the Strategic National Stockpile at a cost of $3,280 each.
"This kind of profiteering—paying four times the negotiated price—is not only irresponsible to taxpayers but is particularly offensive when so many people are out of work," said Dr. Nicole Lurie, who served as the HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response during the Obama administration. "And besides, most of these ventilators will come too late to make a difference in this pandemic. We'll then 'replenish' the stockpile at a ridiculously high price."
"What else," she asked, "won't we be able to buy as a result?"
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 13 2020, @05:31PM (1 child)
Generators are useful only as long as you have fuel.
If we have a power outage more than 10 days, our civilization will collapse to the stoned age.
Imagine:
* power is out, but you still have working car
* you can still get groceries, but shelves are soon bare
* trucks can re-stock as long as there is fuel
* you can refuel car as long as there is fuel
* without electricity filling station pumps don't work.
* the filling station pumps will be siphoned dry soon.
* there are no more truck resupply of either groceries or fuel -- because no fuel
* riots, looting, killing and raping. (those with superior planning skills will reverse the killing and raping steps)
* military might help, for a short time, but they don't have infinite fuel resources, soldiers have their own families, desertions, civil society collapse
* government agencies eventually stop looking for people skilled in cobol
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2020, @03:32AM
Luckily we have plenty of fuel, since demand has dropped greatly with staying at home, combined with dumping by big players. In WI (low gas tax) I heard the price last week was USD $1.12/gallon.