The Greed Of Mark Cuban
Hi, thank you for coming back for the latest edition of Beyond Primary Care’s blog- The Greed of Mark Cuban. In Beyond Primary Care blogs we highlight healthcare news, advice for medical conditions, and how membership for care works! Beyond Primary Care is an insurance free, membership based family medicine clinic. Beyond Primary Care is the highest rated Direct Primary Care clinic serving patients in Ann Arbor and throughout Washtenaw, Livingston, and Wayne counties giving families and employers peace of mind about healthcare costs by providing affordable and accessible primary care services.
The primary purpose of the blog is to introduce healthy lifestyle concepts and answer common questions I receive from patients that I believe are important. I want to start discussions that will help educate, benefit, and improve your well-being.
In this blog post, I wanted to educate my patients and any prospective patients about:
The Greed of Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban is a successful businessman. He is successful enough to buy the Dallas Mavericks. Most people know him from Shark Tank. What he is not though, is a champion of affordable healthcare.
I have received numerous notifications this week from friends asking if I have heard about him launching Cost Plus Drug Company, a type of direct to consumer pharmacy with reduced cost medications. Let me be clear: his company is not a long-term solution to the cost of people’s healthcare or medications.
No Middlemen?
Merriam Webster defines a middleman as an intermediary or agent between two parties. If the parties in healthcare are physicians and the patients that are cared for, by definition any other party used to complete a healthcare visit is just that: A middleman. I sure hope the company does online prescribing because his website clearly states ‘No Middlemen.’ Mark Cuban has made a successful career off of being a middleman, he has name recognition and that helps sell products. Original? No.
There are lots of other ‘direct to consumer’ pharmacies out there who say they will offer reduced prices. Blueberry Pharmacy is one. Blink Health is another. Even Amazon Pharmacy is into this, but I believe Jeff Bezos is too busy with his other endeavors to lend his name to such advertising.
This middleman label is important for a lot of reasons.
First: Mentioned earlier, the Cost Plus does NOT do online prescribing, so you still need to go to a physician’s office for that. Fee for service visits can be expensive too.
Second: The medications still need to be shipped to you. Indeed, this not very direct and now we are involving even more middleman with that healthcare transaction, and lost packages aren’t impossible.
Lastly: From my experience and backed by data for various chronic conditions, most people wait until they are out or near out for refills of medication. When people don’t take medications prescribed, this is recognized as a significant public health issue, since medication non adherence leads to poor health outcomes and increased healthcare costs.
Price Saving: Cost Plus versus Direct Primary Care
You don’t care about middlemen, but you do care about cost savings. I hear you. You’ve seen Shark Tank, right? That said, you can expect to get a mark-up on the medications. How much, well- let’s compare.
If you fell into the trap of click baiting because we mentioned Mark Cuban in the title, but still don’t know about Direct Primary Care (DPC) is. Please read a little more to know about DPC clinics are, some information is found here, here, and here. A vast majority of DPC clinics dispense medications from our offices, and continue to do so with better prices than other online pharmacies. We don’t carry every medication like these pharmacies do, but like Beyond Primary Care in Ann Arbor, most carry what the vast majority of people need. A short example list:
Comparison of select group of medications between Cost Plus and Beyond Primary Care
Lend A Name To A Direct Primary Care Clinic?
Mark Cuban is not a physician. From what I have read about him, he has no background in healthcare. But would he lend his name to a Direct Care Clinic? I’d wager not likely as Direct Primary Care is not scaleable. Would he see a 6% growth return year after year? Not happening. This is his greed. It’s not about patient care, it’s the financial return.
In contrast, DPC clinics utilize modern medicine but with an old school approach to healthcare, a direct relationship between our patients and the physicians. That said, the vast majority of DPC clinics are independently owned / non corporate facilities. The beauty in this continuity is that DPC patients can be seen AND treated all within the same visit, eliminating higher cost middlemen out there.
Many DPC clinics offer wholesale medications dispensed directly from their office at wholesale prices, wholesale blood work, and have agreements or knowledge of at-cost imaging such as xrays, ultrasounds, and MRIs. Additionally, the physicians at DPC clinics are great resources towards obtaining other affordable services such as cash-pay colonoscopies, heart stress tests, or even non-emergent surgeries.
Beyond Primary Care is DPC clinic located in Ann Arbor, Michigan and cares for patients all throughout Washtenaw County, Wayne County, and Livingston County.
Thank you for reading.
- Dr. Jeff O’Boyle with Beyond Primary Care. Views expressed are my own.
