I’m a cynical person, always have been (though I’ve gotten a little less so since having kids), which is why I’m a natural skeptic of anything any politician says to me. Trust, but verify, as President Ronald Reagan's famous mantra goes. My experience has shown me that the more someone insists they are telling you the truth, the higher the probability is that they’re lying to you. And the more “passionate” an activist is about an issue, the more likely it is that their financial future is tied to whatever it is they’re advocating for. Funny how that works out, isn’t it?
Some of the most passionate defenders of USAID are progressive non-profits that are part of the system through which “aid” money flowed – each group wetting its beak – before a fraction of the money reaches its so-called beneficiaries.
Climate change activist groups require continual funding from governments, which insist “the debate is over!” If the debate is over, why is so much “study” still required? Because it’s their bread and butter.
The first question that needs to be asked of anyone insisting they have a “solution” to a problem should always be, “What’s in it for you?”
That brings me to Mark Cuban and this story I read in The Hill a little over a week ago. In it, the billionaire Shark Tank regular has a “solution” to saving a fortune for Americans on prescription drugs, or so he says.
As a recovering health policy expert, I will advise anyone to beware Greeks bearing gifts…even though Cuban isn’t Greek.
Cuban is promoting one of his companies, Cost Plus Drugs, as a way for Americans to save a bunch of money on their prescription drug costs, and I have no doubt that it probably does help some people save some money. But one thing you learn studying health policy is A) everyone is looking for a silver bullet, B) everyone with an idea or company tells you they have a silver bullet, and C) there are no silver bullets when it comes to “fixing” the health care industry.
While there are no silver bullets, there are a lot of boogeymen. Every single aspect of the Leviathan that is the American health care industry has a handful of fingers they regularly point toward every other competitor or rival – everyone else is to blame, none of the pointers are at fault.
In Cuban’s case it is the Pharmaceutical Benefits Managers, or PBMs.
PBMs are an easy foil for anyone looking to complain about the cost of prescription drugs because they negotiate the prices paid by insurance companies with the manufacturers. Masterfully painted as fat cat “middlemen” by the tens of millions spent by the drug companies they directly negotiate with, they have become an easy target of headline seeking “thought leaders” like Cuban.
Reality, naturally, is much more complicated than that, but reality rarely helps anyone trying to demonize their competitors for their own benefit.
Cuban knows this, he’s not a dumb man. But it’s easier to tear into your opponent, scaring their customers to your product, than it is to persuade them to your side.
But cherry-picking is cherry-picking, no matter whose tree it is.
A selective look at Mark Cuban’s past brings to light that he’s been accused of creating a Ponzi scheme in the crypto space, he admits to funding some of his college by ripping people off through a pyramid scheme, he was accused of (and eventually cleared) insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and he’s been graphically accused of sexual assault, among any number of other alleged indiscretions. He’s not been found guilty of anything, it’s important to note, but you don’t have to be if the target is someone’s reputation more than reality.
Promising a solution to any aspect of the cost of health care is almost like being a faith healer, in my opinion – you swear you’re going to fix a problem when you blow into town, then you run out with people’s money and leave them just as broken and now broke.
But there’s money to be made there, so people go after it.
That’s not to say that’s what Cuban is doing, but it is to say that reason prescription drugs cost so much is they cost so much (billions) to develop and bring to market, then a company only as a short window of time to not only recoup the cost of development, but make enough to develop something new before generics can make it and eat your revenues. Regulation is the largest cost driver, not anything some faceless PBM did. But in today’s environment it is savvier to beat up on other companies than to try and fight regulators.
Avail yourself of options, all of them, to discover what works best for you. Educating yourself about what you and your family’s needs are when it comes to your health care is the closest thing that we have to a silver bullet, whether or not that involves a billionaire’s latest venture.
Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.
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