Billionaire Mark Cuban’s 5-step plan to make healthcare affordable targets drug middlemen’s ‘contractual terrorism’
The Cost Plus Drugs cofounder told Texas lawmakers that insured patients are often better off paying cash—and laid out five fixes built around price transparency.
Billionaire Mark Cuban has proposed a five-step plan to address the healthcare affordability crisis in the United States. His plan targets the middlemen in the drug industry and emphasizes transparency as a key solution.
Cuban suggests that insured patients should be allowed to choose the cheapest option when it comes to prescription drugs, even if it means paying cash instead of using their insurance. This approach would create price competition and reward patients for saving money by potentially lowering their deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums.
Standardizing contracts for pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and third-party administrators is another crucial aspect of Cuban's plan. PBMs handle around 80% of U.S. drug claims, and their contracts can be hundreds of pages long, making it difficult for regulators and taxpayers to identify harmful terms. To address this issue, Cuban has drafted a model PBM contract that other cities, counties, and school districts could use as a template.
He argues that standardizing contracts would eliminate the need for each entity to negotiate these agreements from scratch.
Cuban is also pushing for greater transparency in pricing data for taxpayer-funded programs like Medicare and Medicaid. He believes that the current lack of "price discovery" hinders market efficiency, as one party holds all the information. Any program funded by taxpayer money should disclose pricing data, including rebates, fees, guarantees, and affiliate compensation.
Another key component of Cuban's plan is the elimination of gag clauses, which prevent employers and plan sponsors from openly discussing contract terms. By removing these provisions, Cuban argues, people would be able to compare fees and negotiate better deals.
Finally, Cuban advocates for stronger enforcement against repeat offenders of anti-competitive practices. Currently, companies can make billions, pay fines, and write them off as easily as they would pay off their NBA fines. Cuban believes this approach is not a deterrent but rather a cost of doing business for these companies.
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