With the coronavirus spreading rapidly across the United States, government leaders and health care providers are frantically working to find enough gloves, masks, ventilators, and other medical equipment. However, an investigation by ProPublica and others shows that suppliers are using the crisis to increase prices exorbitantly.
According to the ProPublica story, New York, one of the states hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, has struggled to deal with skyrocketing prices of medical equipment including:
- 20 cents for gloves that would otherwise cost less than a nickel.
- $7.50 each for masks – about 15 times the usual price.
- $2,795 for infusion pumps, more than twice the regular cost.
- $248,841 for a portable X-ray machine that usually sells for $30,000 to $80,000.
“Every mask and surgical glove could prevent the transmission of this dangerous virus," said Matt Wellington, public health campaigns director for U.S. PIRG. "Every ventilator and oxygen tank could save a life. A fractured supply process is forcing states and hospitals to bid against each other to save the lives of their citizens and patients.”
More than 90 mayors and county executives from 16 states sent a letter to the Trump administration on April 2. It urges the federal government to use its emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of critical medical supplies including ventilators and masks and to establish a medical equipment leader charged with centrally distributing those materials.
Dominic Sarno, mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts, said:
This public health emergency situation has affected all of us across the nation. The needs of our cities, states, hospitals and other healthcare facilities to proactively respond to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 has put stress upon our first responders and front line personnel. It has pushed our resources to their limits. Now more than ever, we need a coordinated effort on a national scale to meet the ever growing demands of the purchasing and distribution of medical equipment.
Although the president has authorized Alex Azar, U.S. secretary of health and human services, to increase production and oversee allocation of medical equipment, Azar hasn't put that authority to full use, which indicates the need for a directive and task force to carry out this mission, Wellington said.
“Unscrupulous businesses have taken advantage of the lack of federal coordination in the medical supplies chain, upcharging the government and health care providers on medical supplies, swindling taxpayers and putting lives at risk," said Adam Garber, consumer watchdog for U.S. PIRG. "Everyone should be coming together to save lives, not competing for life-saving equipment at exorbitant prices.”
