Mark Cuban has a solution for the $38 trillion national debt: Fine health insurers for falling short

ThatRobGuy · Jan 6, 2026

Mark Cuban on the $38 trillion national debt and the absurdity of U.S. healthcare: we wouldn't pay for potato chips like this | Fortune

"Can you imagine if a Pringles distributor paid full retail to Pringles and then sold to grocery stores for full retail, and then the grocery stores had to wait for a rebate?"

fortune.com

Non-paywalled version from MSN

MSN

The FTC’s Section 6(b) inquiry into the PBM industry ordered the largest firms in the space to turn over extensive data and documents about their business practices, and a January 2025 interim report from the FTC claimed that PBMs marked up drugs by $7.3 billion in excess of their acquisition costs. While that’s substantial, even a much larger overcharging estimate on the part of PBMs would be a far cry from the $38 trillion national debt.

When contacted by email, Cuban agreed that “of course” the national debt is so gigantic that even billions of inefficiencies being fixed are just the start. “And obviously those being fined would change their behavior,” he added, but he said he thinks abuse in the system is “far more than $7.3 billion.”

d taylor · Jan 6, 2026

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There is no solution, it will continue till it all comes down. Then it ain't gonna be funny.

ThatRobGuy · Jan 7, 2026

d taylor said:
There is no solution, it will continue till it all comes down.

There are some solutions to the debt crisis... They're just solutions that people don't like to hear

While Cuban's pitch is creative (and would address some bad behaviors in the industry - and bring in a little revenue in the process in the short term)...

I've never been a huge fan of governing entities banking on "fines as a funding source".

If everyone corrects the behavior, but a governing entity was expecting the fines revenue coming in as part of the regular budget, the inclination will be there to create more new, and more complicated, rules for people to fun afoul of just to get the money.

Economists have referred to that as a "perverse incentive"

I believe it was St. Louis (but don't quote me on that, it may have been a different city) that was under a state investigation at one point back in the 2010's for creating cascading court fee structures, intentionally confusing/cumbersome parking regulations, and convoluted building code red tape seemingly not for the purposes of actually correcting a legit problem, but rather to create more violation opportunities to pad city revenue.

Aryeh Jay · Jan 7, 2026

Thankfully America is pro America and don't follow suggestions from commie Cuba!

d taylor · Jan 7, 2026

ThatRobGuy said:
There are some solutions to the debt crisis... They're just solutions that people don't like to hear

While Cuban's pitch is creative (and would address some bad behaviors in the industry - and bring in a little revenue in the process in the short term)...

I've never been a huge fan of governing entities banking on "fines as a funding source".

If everyone corrects the behavior, but a governing entity was expecting the fines revenue coming in as part of the regular budget, the inclination will be there to create more new, and more complicated, rules for people to fun afoul of just to get the money.

Economists have referred to that as a "perverse incentive"

I believe it was St. Louis (but don't quote me on that, it may have been a different city) that was under a state investigation at one point back in the 2010's for creating cascading court fee structures, intentionally confusing/cumbersome parking regulations, and convoluted building code red tape seemingly not for the purposes of actually correcting a legit problem, but rather to create more violation opportunities to pad city revenue.

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There is no solution to a country where people are dependent on the governmnet for their lives. Which that number is growing every passing year.

That includes reelecting the same type of politician year after year after year..............................................

ThatRobGuy · Jan 7, 2026

d taylor said:
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There is no solution to a country where people are dependent on the governmnet for their lives. Which that number is growing every passing year.

That includes reelecting the same type of politician year after year after year..............................................

Just to be clear, when I was referring to "Cuban's solution", I was referring to Mark Cuban (the basketball team owner), not the nation of Cuba lol.

(just wanted to clarify since based on your response about dependence on government, it sounded like you may have thought I was talking about Cuba)

ThatRobGuy · Jan 7, 2026

Aryeh Jay said:
Thankfully America is pro America and don't follow suggestions from commie Cuba!

Yes, thankfully...otherwise we'd have universal healthcare, but not much of anything else. But maybe then Michael Moore could make a misleading, selectively-edited "documentary" that conveniently left out all the bad parts.

I've always wondered why Michael Moore never did a documentary about their grocery store system.

Rationed food kept Cubans fed during the Cold War. Today an economic crisis has them hungry

María de los Ángeles Pozo used to get a little notebook laying out her family’s rations in Cuba’s subsidized neighborhood stores.

apnews.com

Aryeh Jay · Jan 7, 2026

ThatRobGuy said:
Yes, thankfully...otherwise we'd have universal healthcare, but not much of anything else. But maybe then Michael Moore could make a misleading, selectively-edited "documentary" that conveniently left out all the bad parts.

I've always wondered why Michael Moore never did a documentary about their grocery store system.

Rationed food kept Cubans fed during the Cold War. Today an economic crisis has them hungry

María de los Ángeles Pozo used to get a little notebook laying out her family’s rations in Cuba’s subsidized neighborhood stores.

apnews.com

Or how a taxi driver has a better quality of life than a doctor. The both get the same salary, but the taxi driver gets tips from foreigners.

I visited when we were able to.

d taylor · Jan 7, 2026

ThatRobGuy said:
Just to be clear, when I was referring to "Cuban's solution", I was referring to Mark Cuban (the basketball team owner), not the nation of Cuba lol.

(just wanted to clarify since based on your response about dependence on government, it sounded like you may have thought I was talking about Cuba)

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Yes I understood who you were speaking of when you said Cuban. And I was speaking about America being the country where people are dependent on the governmnet for their lives.

At least they are where i live.

Hans Blaster · Jan 7, 2026

ThatRobGuy said:
I believe it was St. Louis (but don't quote me on that, it may have been a different city) that was under a state investigation at one point back in the 2010's for creating cascading court fee structures, intentionally confusing/cumbersome parking regulations, and convoluted building code red tape seemingly not for the purposes of actually correcting a legit problem, but rather to create more violation opportunities to pad city revenue.

Famously it was...

Ferguson.

Ferguson, Missouri, to pay $4.5 million to settle claims it illegally jailed thousands

City to compensate more than 15,000 people who advocates say were locked up because they were too poor to pay legal fees.

www.cbsnews.com

ThatRobGuy · Jan 8, 2026

Aryeh Jay said:
Or how a taxi driver has a better quality of life than a doctor. The both get the same salary, but the taxi driver gets tips from foreigners.

Doesn't seem like a great way to incentivize people to get into the medical field

Cuba loses over 13,300 doctors in 2023: a severe blow to the healthcare system

Cuba is facing a healthcare crisis in 2023 due to the loss of more than 13,300 doctors, compounded by the exportation of medical professionals and a lack of medical resources.

en.cibercuba.com

Laodicean60 · Jan 8, 2026

Even though Cuban might have a conflict of interest speaking about drug prices, but the more rich people talk about it the better odds our government will do something about it.

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Mark Cuban has a solution for the $38 trillion national debt: Fine health insurers for falling short

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