Entrepreneur Mark Cuban issued a direct challenge to President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday, calling for the breakup of the country’s largest health insurance providers to drastically reduce national healthcare spending.
Speaking at the Silicon Slopes Summit, the Cost Plus Drugs founder claimed that dismantling these conglomerates would cause healthcare costs to “drop like a rock.” Cuban argued that major insurers currently exercise excessive control, primarily by “gaming the system” through their ownership of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).
“They have so much control,” Cuban said during a panel discussion, snapping his fingers to illustrate how quickly costs would fall if firms were forced to divest from subsidiaries. He noted that PBMs, which act as middlemen negotiating drug discounts and processing claims, often introduce hidden costs that drive up prices for consumers.
Cuban’s own venture, Cost Plus Drugs, bypasses traditional insurance by selling directly to consumers with a transparent markup. He cited the example of Azithromycin, which his company sells for $9.37 compared to a retail price of approximately $150 at most pharmacies. Cuban added that his firms no longer deal with major insurers, choosing instead to contract directly with providers.
Chris Klomp, deputy administrator for Medicare at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, shared the stage with Cuban but stopped short of endorsing the proposal to break up the insurance industry. Instead, Klomp emphasized the administration’s focus on transparency and its role in fostering an environment for “disrupters.”
Klomp highlighted the launch of TrumpRx.gov, a government platform designed to allow citizens to purchase brand-name medications directly from manufacturers. Despite the lighthearted banter between the two—which included Klomp presenting the 67-year-old Cuban with an oversized Medicare card—the administrator acknowledged the gravity of systemic issues.
“Americans are so unhealthy, despite spending huge sums on health care,” said Klomp, a former tech CEO who joined the administration to address these inefficiencies. While he did not commit to antitrust actions against insurers, he urged the entrepreneurial audience to “challenge the incumbents” with new startups.