"Broken system"- When Shark Tank's Mark Cuban opened up about the Healthcare sector 

Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban dwelled into some serious aspects with Lex Fridman in his podcast in March 2024. During the conversation, they both touched on topics like the DEI initiative, entrepreneurship, immigration, AI, healthcare, and so on.

While talking about the healthcare system, Fridman did not beat around the bush and asked Mark Cuban:

"What's broken about our healthcare system?"

Answering Fridman's question, Mark Cuban pointed out that:

"There's no transparency. And the lack of transparency leads to lack of trust, and when you can't trust the healthcare system other than maybe your doctor, that's a broken system."

Elaborating on the same, Mark Cuban talked about how his new venture, Cost Plus Drugs, can bring important changes to mend the "broken" healthcare system. The Shark Tank mentor claimed that he is trying to win over the "trust" of the customers by providing "complete transparency."

He remarked that he is on the path to "revolutionizing" drug pricing in America. He explained the workings of Cost Plus drugs and highlighted how they provide transparency to their customers. He explained:

"So when you go to costplusdrugs.com and you put in the name of the medication, if it's one of the 2,500 and growing that we carry, we will first show you our costs, what we actually pay for it. Then we'll show you our 15% markup. Then we'll show the pharmacy fill fee and shipping. And that's your total price."

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Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban opened up about what the "Pharmacy Benefit Managers" did wrong regarding healthcare system

While in a conversation with Lex Fridman, the Shark Tank fame and billionaire Mark Cuban opened up about the downside of the "Pharmacy Benefit Managers" and what they did wrong. Mark Cuban pointed out that considering how "opaque" the healthcare industry is, all they focused on was making profits as they controlled the majority of the market.

Explaining his point further, Mark Cuban claimed that while signing a contract with one of these PBMs, one cannot disclose the details about drug pricing and markups. Therefore, there is no transparency. He further elucidated how these PBMs control their clients and restrict them from buying another biosimilar of the drug other than the one they are selling.

The Shark Tank investor explained that all of this had created an environment of distrust, and the clients of PMBs were unpaid as well.

"They'd rather keep a drug and exclude another because they'll make a lot more money," added Cuban.

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Shark Tank Season 16 airs on ABC on Fridays.