Will that be Cash or Your Team Cuban Card?
When you hear Mark Cuban, you might think Shark Tank or the Dallas Mavericks, but behind the scenes, Cuban is making a different kind of power play. One that’s shaking up your local pharmacy and flipping the script on how Americans get their meds.
His company, Cost Plus Drug Co., and it's rapidly expanding and growing fast! It's got one goal: make prescription drugs affordable, transparent, and accessible for everyone.
A Model For The People
For years, drug pricing has been a black box. You don’t know what you’ll pay until you get to the counter. Independent pharmacies are getting squeezed out by massive chains, and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the mysterious middlemen, who are often profiting while patients and pharmacists lose.
So Cuban responds by creating a pharmacy model that’s clear, fair, and patient-first—all while giving local pharmacies a fighting chance.
Rapid Expansion
What started in 2023 as a modest experiment with just 36 pharmacies and continued to snowball since then into over 2,300 pharmacies across 38 states including Kroger!
Say Hello to the “Team Cuban Card”
Patients can sign up online for the Team Cuban Card, which acts just like an insurance card at participating pharmacies. You walk in, show your card, and boom you can see clear pricing on over 2,000 medications.
Fair Reimbursement for Pharmacies
Unlike traditional PBMs that often leave pharmacies scraping by, this network makes sure they’re paid fairly:
- $12 per filled prescription
- $14 for meds requiring cold storage or strict safety protocols
- $25 for administering flu shots
And most importantly, pharmacies get reimbursed based on what they actually paid for the drugs—not some inflated “average” number.
Flexible Access for Patients
What makes this model different is that it doesn’t push patients to mail-order everything. You can choose local pickup at your nearby affiliate pharmacy for both one-time and long-term prescriptions—or go the mail-order route if that’s your style.
As Erin Albert, PharmD, Chief of Pharmacy Relations at Cost Plus Drugs, put it:
“We recognize local community pharmacies, and in particular independent pharmacies, as the lifeblood of local communities and a crucial, accessible touchpoint within the healthcare system.”
It’s not just about convenience. It’s about keeping pharmacy care human, local, and sustainable.
Just Getting Started
Mark Cuban’s vision isn’t just about saving a few bucks on prescriptions (though that’s great too). It’s about rebuilding trust, empowering local businesses, and putting patients back in control.
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