"That's insane": When Shark Tank mentor Mark Cuban shared his views on healthcare pricing

Shark Tank mentor Mark Cuban voiced his concerns regarding healthcare pricing and referred to them as "horrific" on the social media platform Bluesky on December 11, 2024. The entrepreneur shared multiple comments about the issues and potential solutions.

He mentioned that the first thing that was responsible for such higher healthcare rates was that the system puts "100%" of credit risk for deductibles, and shared more:

"If you want to understand why healthcare pricing is horrific, the first thing to know is that our system puts 100% of the credit risk for deductibles, copays and co-insurance on hospitals and doctors. That's insane. We have turned them into Sub Prime Lenders."

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Shark Tank entrepreneur Mark Cuban shared his views on the healthcare system, medical debt and how he would potentially solve those issues

In a series of comments shared by Shark Tank mentor Mark Cuban, he shared his thoughts on the U.S. healthcare system and how many issues need to be solved.

Among many concerns that the billionaire entrepreneur voiced, he mentioned that his biggest suggestion would be to help students pursuing medical degrees, as medical debts often lead to "bankruptcy."

"When they can't collect payment, they raise prices to make up that loss. Plus they need to have all the administration of a mortgage loan servicer to try to collect those amounts. Which, of course, also puts people who can't afford the cost in medical debt, which often leads to bankruptcy," stated the Shark Tank's mentor.

Further in his comments, he discussed insurance companies and how they work while covering "care authorizers." He stated that their "primary" roles were to ensure that there were no "frauds" among the providers and that care was "medically necessary."

He mentioned the "authorization" process and how that should be performed by independent TPAs. By doing that, he mentioned that they can also use insurance companies and their networks and suggested "direct contracting."

Suggesting the solution, the Shark Tank's mentor mentioned that his employees directly contract with providers and that they trust the providers. Stating that he further shared about the costs for employees:

"We will pay for the entire cost (employees still pay premiums with plan options) of care immediately. There will be no out of pocket costs for employees when they use providers in our network. (There is out of pocket for OON ). The provider takes on no credit risk."

He also mentioned an exchange asking providers to charge them "much less" than their current charges. The entrepreneur also stated that he would be starting the program in the "near future" and that they aim toward saving "a lot of time and money," resulting in "happier employees."

Fans who follow the investor must be aware of his interactions with netizens and his followers, where he often discusses issues related to employees and shares his views on the matters as well.

While sharing more about the solution, he ended the thread by mentioning:

"Effectively, for in network care, including meds from Cost Plus , our plan is single payer, paid for by me. There are a lot of things in this thread to agree or disagree with, and to discuss. I'm happy to, where I can."

Shark Tank's mentor stated that the plan that he was proposing was supposed to be a "single-payer," meaning he would be paying for it. He also mentioned that he was open to discussing these things, even though there must be many agreements and disagreements.

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Fans can stream current Shark Tank Season 16 on ABC, where the network releases the latest episodes every Friday.