Key Takeaways
Mark Cuban, co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs, testified at the Texas Capitol with five proposals to lower prescription drug prices.
His core idea is transparency: let patients buy drugs at lower cash prices, standardize PBM contracts, and make pricing, fees, and rebates public.
Cuban argued that when a cash price beats an insured price, the system is broken, and price discovery is what the market is missing.
Mark Cuban, co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs, testified at the Texas Capitol this week with five specific fixes for what he called a prescription drug market that is too complicated, too opaque, and too expensive. Texas lawmakers had brought in more than a dozen experts on healthcare affordability, and Cuban used his time to argue for transparency, according to reporting by Fierce Healthcare and his own account of the testimony.
The five proposals
Cuban urged Texas to let patients buy a drug at a lower cash price when their insurance quotes more, and to credit that spending toward their deductible where the state has authority. He asked the state to require standardized model contracts for pharmacy benefit managers and third-party administrators across state agencies, cities, counties, and school districts, and he offered his own model contract for free. He called for the money in those contracts, the pricing, fees, rebates, and reimbursement, to be made public where taxpayers pay the bill. He asked lawmakers to end the gag clauses that stop employers from comparing terms, and to make enforcement bite by barring repeat violators from new state contracts.
Why the transparency argument lands
Cuban's pitch rests on a simple observation. Many Cost Plus customers already have insurance but pay less with cash, which he says signals a broken market. His fix is price discovery, the same principle behind showing buyers what a thing actually costs. "I call it contractual terrorism," Cuban said of PBM contracts that run hundreds of pages and bury the economics. The argument runs parallel to WYDE's coverage of where affordability and accountability meet, from Feeding America mapping a $33.7 billion food shortfall to the FDA opening its rules on AI in medical devices. When one side knows far more than the other, Cuban argued, taxpayers and patients lose. Worth watching.
People Also Ask
What did Mark Cuban propose in his Texas testimony?
Cuban proposed letting patients pay lower cash prices for drugs, standardizing PBM and TPA contracts, making contract economics public, ending gag clauses, and toughening enforcement against repeat violators.
What is Cost Plus Drugs?
Cost Plus Drugs is the pharmacy company co-founded by Mark Cuban that shows what it pays for a drug, adds a transparent markup and pharmacy fee, and displays the final price to the customer.
What is a PBM and why does Cuban criticize them?
A pharmacy benefit manager is a middleman that negotiates drug prices and coverage. Cuban says their contracts are long, opaque, and hide fees and rebates that raise costs for employers and patients.
Why does Cuban say cash prices can beat insurance?
He says many patients find a drug's cash price is lower than what their insurance plan charges, which he argues shows the market lacks the price competition and transparency that would lower costs.
Sources
Fierce Healthcare (September 2026) and Mark Cuban's testimony posted to X.