As GM races to help build ventilators, White House balks at cost, shops around

A week ago, General Motors announced plans to partner with a company called Ventec Life Systems to increase production of medical ventilators, becoming one of the first automakers to signal it was joining the fight against the coronavirus. Now the project is being clouded after the Trump administration had second thoughts over footing the bill.

The New York Times broke the story Thursday night, reporting that President Trump had been set to make an announcement about the joint venture Wednesday when the event was abruptly scrapped. The reason? The Federal Emergency Management Agency decided it needed more time to weigh the reported $1.5 billion price tag, including paying GM several hundred million dollars up front to retool an electronic parts plant in Kokomo, Ind., where the Ventec-designed ventilators would be built.

Government officials told the publication the deal might still happen, but they’re now looking at at least a dozen other proposals. Meanwhile, as the coronavirus pandemic widens, getting more ventilators built is time-critical.

“Ventec Life Systems and General Motors have been working around the clock to implement plans to build more critical care ventilator,” GM said in a statement provided to Autoblog. “With GM’s support, Ventec is now planning exponentially higher ventilator production as fast as possible.”

Dubbed “Project V,” both companies have been quickly gearing up to begin production and were reportedly targeting a build of 200,000 Ventec machines. Health experts think there could be a need for nearly 1 million ventilators across the country. But Trump administration officials told the NYT they were struggling to understand how many units the new partnership would make because the number was in flux, with some officials concerned about ordering too many ventilators and being stuck with an expensive surplus. 

Meanwhile, in New York state alone, the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak in the U.S. with 37,258 confirmed positive cases and 285 deaths, officials say as many as 30,000 ventilators may be needed in the coming weeks. A new order by Gov. Andre Cuomo allows hospitals in the state to treat two coronavirus patients with a single ventilator.

Read the New York Times story here.

The pandemic is raising all kinds of issues regarding just what is the cost of a human life. Here is a consideration of that question from fivethirtyeight.com.