Anonymous,

Twenty cents for gloves that typically cost a nickel. Masks selling for 15 times their usual price. A $30,000 to $80,000 portable X-ray machine marked up to over $248,000.1

As the COVID-19 crisis fractures supply chains and creates shortages, U.S. hospitals and other essential institutions are still struggling to get medical supplies, including masks and ventilators.2 To make matters worse, a recent investigation reveals that some suppliers are using the crisis to gouge states and health care providers.3

With stakes this high, we can't afford to allow our supply of medical equipment to be threatened by absurd price hikes. Tell the White House: We need a centralized system for the purchase and distribution of medical equipment now.

ProPublica found that New York, one of the states hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, has paid anywhere between two and 15 times the normal price for medical supplies of all types, including gloves, masks, infusion pumps and X-ray machines.4

For New York and other states, as well as local hospital systems and health care providers, paying ridiculous prices for crucial equipment is a symptom of a larger problem: A fractured supply process is forcing states and hospitals to bid against each other for medical equipment to save the lives of their citizens and patients.5,6

That kind of demand is allowing sellers to hike up the prices -- and although New York's attorney general has ordered merchants to stop overcharging people for consumer products like hand sanitizer and disinfectant sprays, state laws against price gouging usually don't apply to situations in which the government is the buyer.7

We should be coming together to save lives, not competing for lifesaving equipment at exorbitant prices. Tell the Trump administration to coordinate the transparent and equitable end-to-end distribution of medical equipment to everyone who needs it.

The lack of federal coordination in the medical supply chain has allowed unscrupulous businesses to take advantage of the situation and upcharge governments and health care providers -- and it's putting lives at risk.

State governments and health care providers shouldn't have to compete with each other or the federal government for crucial medical equipment, especially when this competition results in hospitals not getting the medical supplies they need to protect health workers and care for patients.

We're telling the Trump administration to establish a transparent, centralized system to get critical medical supplies directly to areas in need.

Add your name today.

Thank you,

Faye Park
President

1. Lydia DePillis and Lisa Song, "In Desperation, New York State Pays Up to 15 Times the Normal Prices for Medical Equipment," ProPublica, April 2, 2020.
2. Lydia DePillis and Lisa Song, "In Desperation, New York State Pays Up to 15 Times the Normal Prices for Medical Equipment," ProPublica, April 2, 2020.
3. "Hospital Experiences Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of a National Pulse Survey March 23-27, 2020," U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, March 3, 2020.
4. Lydia DePillis and Lisa Song, "In Desperation, New York State Pays Up to 15 Times the Normal Prices for Medical Equipment," ProPublica, April 2, 2020.
5. Lydia DePillis and Lisa Song, "In Desperation, New York State Pays Up to 15 Times the Normal Prices for Medical Equipment," ProPublica, April 2, 2020.
6. Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Jack Nicas, "'Swept Up by FEMA': Complicated Medical Supply System Sows Confusion," April 6, 2020.
7. Lydia DePillis and Lisa Song, "In Desperation, New York State Pays Up to 15 Times the Normal Prices for Medical Equipment," ProPublica, April 2, 2020.