On Friday, Mark Cuban blasted what he described as runaway Medicare Advantage costs as congressional advisers push for tighter limits, arguing taxpayers are being overcharged by private insurers compared with traditional Medicare. His broader effort to challenge the system has included outspoken criticism of opaque pricing and intermediaries, an issue he has continued to emphasize in his push for greater price transparency.
In a post on X, Cuban framed the issue as a direct hit to households, saying families effectively fund extra payments to large insurers because government outlays exceed what it takes to cover traditional Medicare. He also argued the math leaves out added costs borne by people enrolled in traditional Medicare plans through higher premiums.
How Mark Cuban Aims To Overhaul Healthcare
In the same post, Cuban said Medicare Advantage was designed to come in below the cost of traditional Medicare, but he contends the program has drifted far from that goal. He urged support for the Break Up Big Medicine bill backed by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and tied the issue to how voters should judge candidates in November.
That legislative push fits with Cuban’s wider argument that the U.S. healthcare problem is rooted in how the industry is built, not only in the sticker price of medications. In a PBS interview, earlier this month, he described insurers as deeply intertwined with other parts of the supply chain, saying, “They are so vertically integrated they literally control and set the pricing of all the economics.”
Cuban has pointed to price opacity as a key reason consumers and employers struggle to understand what they are paying for. In that interview, he said, “Even though its their largest expense after payroll, they have no idea how their benefits work,” describing employers as largely unable to see how costs are determined.
In his post, Cuban put a specific figure on the Medicare Advantage gap, writing that “EVERY SINGLE FAMILY IN THE USA IS PAYING $800 A YEAR” because insurers receive more public funding than he believes is necessary relative to traditional Medicare. He called that outcome irrational and argued it conflicts with the original promise that Medicare Advantage would be cheaper.
Cuban further tied the spending debate to electoral accountability, saying voters should withhold support from candidates who won’t back the Hawley-Warren proposal. He characterized the bill as the most straightforward route to lowering healthcare costs.
Outside of Medicare policy, Cuban has tried to model what he considers a simpler approach in the pharmacy market through his online venture Cost Plus Drugs. He has argued that publishing prices can be a competitive weapon.
The Role Of Pharmacy Benefit Managers
Cuban has repeatedly singled out pharmacy benefit managers as a major driver of confusion in drug pricing, contrasting the U.S. with other developed countries. In the PBS interview, he said, “The one thing from a business perspective that differentiates the United States versus all the other developed nations when it comes to drugs, we have these things called pharmacy benefit managers,” and added, “They don’t. Period. End of story.”
He has described PBMs as creating a system where patients and even plan sponsors can’t easily track true costs. In that interview, he also said, “The market can fix the problem, but its going to take a long time and people are going to die,” arguing for policy steps that would force more competition rather than waiting for gradual change.
Cost Plus Drugs, he said, is built around showing inputs and markups rather than negotiating behind closed doors. Cuban described the approach as, “Were transparent,” adding, “We show you our actual cost, our literal actual cost. We show you our markup, which is only 15%, and if its mail order, its $5 to ship it to you. Thats it.”
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