Mark Cuban: Health care is a battle of good against bad, and doctors are the good guys

Author(s):

Medical Economics Staff

Key Takeaways

Mark Cuban criticizes insurers and some hospitals for prioritizing profits over patient care, praising physicians as the "good actors."
He highlights the burden of high-deductible insurance plans on patients and doctors, calling insurers "the worst of the worst."
Cuban suggests reforms like free medical school, rethinking residency slots, and direct contracting with employers to bolster the physician workforce.
He encourages physicians to innovate independently and avoid health systems that do not value their contributions.

In a recent podcast appearance, the billionaire former member of “Shark Tank” ripped into insurance companies and defended physicians.

Mark Cuban

Credit: Christopher Willard/ABC via Getty Images

Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur and co-founder of the online pharmacy Cost Plus Drugs, recently made his case for reforming American health care on the April 3 episode of the “How I Doctor” podcast with host Graham Walker, MD. In a candid conversation, Cuban praised physicians while accusing insurers, private equity firms, and some hospitals of prioritizing profits over patient care.

Cuban, who launched Cost Plus Drugs in 2022 to lower prescription prices by cutting out traditional pharmacy benefit managers, compared the health care system to “a David-and-Goliath fight” between good and bad actors. He placed physicians squarely on the side of the good.

“I happen to be a fan of people who save lives and make other people feel better, you know? “Call me crazy,” he said during the show. He added that doctors should be paid more.

And about those bad guys? Cuban took aim at insurers for plans designed to saddle doctors with patients who have high deductibles and little ability to pay. “Insurance companies are the worst of the worst,” he said. “If they design a high-deductible plan that someone with a take-home pay of $25,000 can’t afford, you’re stuck with the financial risk.”

He also criticized billing complexities, including prior authorizations and facility fees, calling them opportunities for “arbitrage” that shift costs and frustrations to doctors and patients.

“Anyone who complicates the program, who complicates the economics, takes responsibility for being the bad guy in all of this,” Cuban said.

Cuban shared a flurry of ideas in the nearly one-hour long episode, including how to bolster the physician workforce by making medical school free and rethinking residency slots, the benefits of physicians direct contracting with employers. He also urged physicians to refuse jobs at health systems that don’t value them and to look for opportunities to innovate independently.

Cuban ended by praising the dedication physicians bring to their work. “Thank you for all the blood, sweat, and tears you put in to keep us healthy, to keep us alive,” he said.

“How I Doctor,” hosted by Walker, highlights the evolving ways physicians are finding satisfaction and balance in medicine. You can listen to the episode in the embedded player below, and learn more at the podcast homepage. Note: there's some swearing in the episode.