Mark Cuban is fed up with how the American healthcare system works, and he’s letting everyone know. “Our healthcare has become a game of who can rip off who and get away with it,” Cuban wrote on X on Wednesday.
The billionaire entrepreneur tore into hospitals and insurance companies, claiming they profit off inflated prices and exploit employers and patients alike.
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Cuban explained how hospitals often charge a facility fee and other vague costs, but it doesn’t stop there. If they think an insurance company is willing to pay more than what was originally billed to the patient, they’ll increase the price just for the insurer.
“Of course the insurance company then charges the self insured employer the higher amount,” he added. “Too Big To Care – all of it. Break ‘em up!”
This wasn’t a one-off rant. Just days earlier, Cuban posted another example: “Explain to me why the insurance company will pay $2,500 for an MRI when there is a center down the street that will do it for $350?”
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Cuban’s frustration centers on what he sees as a broken system built around middlemen like pharmacy benefit managers, which he says are often owned by the biggest insurance companies. “They are too big to care,” he said on X last week. “Employer, patient, state, hospital, physician, if they can charge you, they will.”
Critics pushed back, claiming insurers just pay the prices that providers set. But Cuban wasn’t buying it. He argued insurers have no incentive to control costs when they benefit from inflated charges. “They aren’t required to be [cost-conscious],” he said at the time. “And that is the point. They increase prices.”
Others joined the conversation with real-life examples, saying they were quoted over $1,500 for MRIs through insurance, but paid just $275 or less in cash at independent imaging centers.
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Cuban, who co-founded the online pharmacy Cost Plus Drugs, has made it a mission to fight price ambiguity and remove wasteful intermediaries. He’s also been vocal about urging Congress to push for PBM and insurance company reform.
