Billionaire Mark Cuban has his hands in a lot of enterprises, but the entrepreneur and investor who cemented his fame (after his earning his billions) as an NBA owner and Shark Tank star makes only one big business boast in his X tagline: “Dunking on the pharma industry with @costplusdrugs.com, the lowest prices on meds anywhere.”
Cuban’s innovative work in the drug industry has caused intended disruption and saved consumers a fortune, as he has brought his trademark transparency to an industry often maddeningly cloaked in hidden and highly variable costs.
[NOTE: The CostPlusDrugs business model is based on a flat 15% pricing markup over the cost of the drugs, giving the business its no-nonsense name.]
Cuban’s interest in transparency and sharing his knowledge has driven him to expose various practices he’s encountered in the medical/insurance/pharmaceutical vortex, and to deliver actionable insights to patients and consumers.
Below Cuban amplifies a radically different pricing schema on the same service shared by an X account called RealDocSpeaks, which credits another X user, Dutch Rojas, with promoting Radiology Assist, which markets itself as a conduit to “affordable diagnostic imaging locations.”
This. And if you are self insured, NEVER allow your insurance company to bill you for out of network care.
They negotiate the lower cash price with the out of network provider, but charge you the higher price.
Always require that you pay the Out of Network Provider directly… https://t.co/jhNcrBCxOx
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) July 17, 2024
The price difference cited — between hospital and imaging center — triggered Cuban to warn people to “NEVER allow your insurance company to bill you for out of network care.”
Cuban continued: “Always require that you pay the Out of Network Provider directly If you have had many out of network claims, go back and look at them. Call the provider and ask for the cash rate for the care on the claim and compare it to what you were charged. It’s insane.”
[NOTE: this particular example was a “CT Abdomen Pelvis with Contrast CPT 74177 — Hospital $2,541.38; Imaging Center $476.04.”]
Rojas, commenting on the RealDocSpeaks post that Cuban shared, wrote: “Disclosure: I make $0.00 from the recommendation. I do get a lot of joy through people paying less.”