Taxpayers pay $800 a year to fund overpriced Medicare Advantage plans, Mark Cuban says

Every tax-paying family in the U.S. pays about $800 a year to fund Medicare Advantage plans that cost more than traditional Medicare, according to Mark Cuban. The government pays private insurers more to administer these plans than Original Medicare costs to run, and that overpayment flows directly into taxpayer obligations. Cuban argues this reversal of Medicare Advantage’s original promise — to deliver care more cheaply — stems from structural control by large insurance companies. These firms own not just plans but also providers, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and in some cases, pharmacies themselves. That vertical integration lets them set prices across the care chain without competitive pressure. PBMs, which Cuban calls "the Darth Vader of the pharmaceutical industry," are particularly opaque. Despite being framed as neutral intermediaries, they’re owned by insurers and profit from inflating drug prices — a cost absorbed by government programs and, ultimately, taxpayers. To counter this, Cuban launched Cost Plus Drugs, a pharmacy that marks up medications by no more than 15% and publishes the manufacturing cost of every drug it sells. But systemic change, he argues, requires legislation. The bipartisan "Break Up Big Medicine Act," co-sponsored by Senators Josh Hawley and Elizabeth Warren, would prohibit insurers from owning both PBMs and medical providers. Cuban sees it as the most direct path to dismantling the pricing control that drives up health care costs. The bill’s passage would reshape how Medicare Advantage is financed — and how much taxpayers continue to subsidize it.