Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban in an interview with The Hill mentioned he’s hopeful the Trump administration will transfer to decrease prescription drug costs.
Cuban has criticized President Trump up to now and campaigned final yr with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, then the vp.
However he is hopeful the federal government beneath Trump will work to decrease costs by means of the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Providers (CMS) and Well being and Human Providers Division (HHS).
“CEOs are signing offers that under-reimburse [independent] pharmacies,” Cuban said in an interview for The Hill’s Health Next Summit. “CMS, HHS, the federal government is approving Medicare Benefit plans the place they under-reimburse these unbiased pharmacies. It is horrific.”
“Hopefully all of this changes. And actually, you know, I have some high hopes for this administration to take action there,” he mentioned.
The “Shark Tank” host is the co-founder of Price Plus Medication, an organization that goals to decrease the price of pharmaceuticals by eradicating Pharmacy Profit Managers (PBM) from the method.
“The manufacturers want independent pharmacies to stay in business. There have been CEOs or at least one CEO of a major PBM company that said it’s not his job to keep them in business, he doesn’t care. I do care,” Cuban mentioned.
“I want independent pharmacies to stay in business. I think as a country, we don’t want to see pharmacy deserts. We need them to stay in business. All those people, senior citizens that have been going to the same pharmacist for decades and that pharmacist knows them, they know their family, that’s important. That saves lives.”
Pharmacy profit managers are middlemen that handle drug protection for companies all through the nation. PBMs and model drug producers negotiate reductions within the type of rebates, and the PBM then passes a lot of the rebates on to employers.
However critics declare PBMs do not all the time discover the very best offers, and the financial savings are sometimes a mirage. They argue PBMs are driving unbiased drugstores out of enterprise by not paying them sufficient to cowl their prices.
The PBM business argues that PBMs save employers and sufferers billions on their drug prices. Drug corporations and PBMs every blame the opposite for rising drug costs.
Cuban famous that he has not had any direct conversations with the administration.
“I’ve tried to have some conversations with the administration and HHS, and I’ve gotten some resistance to talking to me, but going through intermediaries, the feedback I’ve gotten is they realize this is the problem,” the businessman mentioned.
Cuban added that he believes Republicans have been afraid to collaborate with him, notably from the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE), however mentioned he was in collaboration with workers from one senator final week.
“We exchanged ideas on how we can improve the market. And really, it just comes down to one thing, to save taxpayers and patients tens of billions of dollars, if not more,” Cuban mentioned.
A full model of this interview will air at The Hill’s Well being Subsequent Summit on Wednesday, March 26. The occasion is sponsored by the Alliance for Getting old Analysis and the Nationwide Pharmaceutical Council.
