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Vital Springs Technologies CEO Dr. Sreedhar Potarazu on how the health-care law will affect consumers’ health-care coverage and costs.
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Today's Supreme Court ruling to uphold obamacare will force Americans to buy health insurance.
But what will it mean for your doctor and local -- interfere with the treatments you receive.
Let's actually asked -- -- -- -- Iraq to.
CEO of vital spring technologies.
Doctor B I want Alistair with the impact on me I'm obsessed with the consumer impact here.
Will my costs go down -- my -- and -- The cause or knocked.
-- -- -- You know we put a new label on this.
Mandate.
It called it attacks but.
Premiums have already gone up by about 2000 dollars.
Just since the law -- past.
We've done nothing to help consumers.
-- businesses.
Get greater purchasing power to negotiate with insurance companies to bring that premium down.
We've attacked empowered to more to game the system.
So we really created no mechanism.
To bring cost down there's this notion that you know gonna try and improve the quality and efficiency of care which is important.
But the thing that's never mentioned is that to really get to a point where we can measure quality and start creating a competitive market -- back costs a lot of money.
-- cost more money.
Then the current price tag so the president's statement today.
That you can still keep your coverage.
That you can still keep your doctors.
That is a flawed statement it's an incomplete sentence because what he doesn't say.
Is at what cost to you the consumer you'll be able to do that I.
Well we've only seen costs go up.
And certainly is going to be a very expensive -- over the long term.
One of the things I'm concerned about is the patient's -- patients relationship with their own doctor.
Does this improve that does -- mean LC my doctor Moore we'll have more access to my doctor.
Well.
You can certainly.
Hope to see your doctor more because.
The access.
Is a misnomer in the sense that just because we're providing everybody with coverage.
That doesn't become a proxy for care.
Imagine if I said that everybody is gonna get automobile insurance.
Automatically but there's a thousand dollar deductible.
But what if you don't have the thousand dollars.
Then it really becomes meaningless.
So we've always got into this routine that coverage is equivalent to getting care and that's simply not true.
Just because you have an insurance policy if it's not the right insurance policy will then you won't get the care that you need.
You won't be able to access the doctor when you need them to.
And the insurance companies are certainly not going to be foolish enough to continue to incur losses.
If that trend continues.
-- feel it won't be any impact on doctors I mean are they gonna have more flexibility less flexibility.
Are they going to be forced to.
Team up with a big companies and becomes simply employees rather than sole practitioners.
That's already happening take the example of -- a major announcement this week.
That Aetna made in the Washington DC area with a major health care system we're gonna have a health care system.
Where the insurance carrier in the hospital -- joining forces so what you said is exactly right the doctors start to become employees of the health care system.
It starts to become a lot more controlled there's a lot more flex it there's a lot less flexibility.
In terms of what doctors can do.
So you get back in some respects to the days of managed care.
We probably even go further than that because.
When these insurance companies start to align themselves with major hospital systems.
What happens you reduce competition because you have -- number of entities competing.
And when you have less competition prices go up it's economics one -- one.
Well as we've got a lot to look forward to I -- actor -- Thanks for coming on tonight thanks for describing what really will happen to consumers appreciate your time thank you very much.
