A congressional report says that the United States overpaid for ventilators during the coronavirus pandemic by mishandling contract negotiations, CNN reports.
The staff report written by a House Oversight subcommittee blames the administration for accepting ventilator manufacturer Philips Respironics’ first offer in March 2020, agreeing to a higher price than every other American purchaser negotiating a contract with the company between mid-December 2019 and May 2020.
The report claims that the Trump administration could have overpaid by as much as $500 million, comparing its contract to one negotiated by the Obama administration in 2014. The report cites “thousands of pages of previously non-public documents,” including emails between Philips and the Administration. Both the White House and Philips reject the report’s conclusions.