Mark Cuban, the billionaire investor behind Cost Plus Drugs, criticized hospitals for inflating healthcare costs after a report exposing UnitedHealthcare for “gaming” the Medicare system was released.
Cuban called for insurance companies to divest all “noninsurance assets,” arguing that it’s time to “break em up.”
“Our healthcare has become a game of who can rip off who and get away with it,” Cuban wrote on X. “Too Big To Care – all of it.”
The billionaire entrepreneur said healthcare costs are “insane” because hospitals increase the costs of care if they believe insurance companies will pay more of the bill.
“Hospitals will not only charge a facility fee and other random costs BUT ALSO , if they believe the insurance company is willing to pay MORE THAN WHAT WAS ON THE PATIENT BILL, THEY WILL INCREASE THE BILL to the insurance company,” he continued.
“Of course the insurance company then charges the self insured employer the higher amount,” Cuban added.
CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE OVER OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES SIDESTEPS DEEP DRIVERS OF MEDICAL INFLATION
Cuban’s X post comes after Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released a report on Monday that showed UnitedHealthcare has been allegedly taking advantage of the Medicare Advantage program to increase profits.
Grassley’s staff reviewed over 50,000 pages of UnitedHealthcare documents received as part of his congressional oversight requests.
The report revealed that UnitedHealthcare’s approach to assessing healthcare costs results in the company receiving more money from Medicare than its competitors, since the company allegedly makes patients appear sicker.
Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Congress has a “responsibility” to conduct “aggressive” oversight on Medicare.
“Bloated federal spending to UnitedHealth Group is not only hurting the Medicare Advantage program, it’s harming the American taxpayer,” he said in a press release. “My investigation has shown UnitedHealth Group appears to be gaming the system and abusing the risk adjustment process to turn a steep profit.”
“Taxpayers and patients deserve accurate, clear-cut and fair risk adjustment processes,” he wrote.
Since the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024, the company and the insurance industry have faced renewed frustrations over high costs.
HEALTHCARE ISN’T BROKEN. HEALTH INSURANCE IS
Thompson’s death sparked social media users to voice their negative experiences with insurers and outline justifications for his death.
“I heard he died (because) the ambulance had to find an in network (emergency room),” one user wrote on X. Another user wrote, “Maybe stop ripping the American People off.”