Cedar CEO: Consumers, employers drive change in health care pricing

Consumers and employers will drive changes in health care pricing and policy, Florian Otto, co-founder and CEO of Cedar, said on Tuesday at an Axios virtual event on the future of health care payments.

Why it matters: The U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation, but Americans do not enjoy better health outcomes. High health care costs affect how the country responds to major health crises — like the coronavirus — because people cannot afford to pay for testing or treatment, per the Washington Post.

What they're saying: "If consumers at some point literally say, 'OK, we are not doing this anymore and we want a change,' then at some point policy will change." Otto said.

• "You saw in the last three or four years a lot of stories of patients not being able to pay the bill in the media. This is very, very good because that makes policymakers aware of the problem and also drive, I think, some changes," he continued.
• "The second big, I think, part of the change will be probably the employers, because employers pay for health care — or at least they're the majority of the burden on the private side — and they, of course, can change a lot. So, I think consumers and employers are the two big drivers."

Watch the event.