Billionaire investor Mark Cuban took to social media on Tuesday to challenge Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on a bipartisan bill aimed at breaking up healthcare conglomerates. Cuban's message was blunt: if Cruz doesn't support the bill, he's effectively okay with "people dying because they can't afford care," all while the national debt climbs past $40 trillion.
Mark Cuban to Ted Cruz: 'A True Capitalist Would Understand'
MarketDash
Billionaire Mark Cuban challenged Sen. Ted Cruz to back a bipartisan bill to break up healthcare conglomerates amid rising debt.
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Clash Over Taxes
In a post on X, Cuban argued that the wealthy should "pay taxes on what you earn," calling for an end to loopholes and a return to pre-2017 tax rates for top earners. Cruz fired back, accusing Cuban of contradicting himself, especially given Cuban's recent endorsement of Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico. Cruz also credited the Trump-era tax cuts with keeping unemployment low before the pandemic.
Cuban didn't back down, telling Cruz to "look at our deficit" and "how much we pay in interest every minute of every day."
The numbers are stark. The U.S. national debt crossed $40 trillion in August, which works out to roughly $116,486 per citizen. It's now sitting at $40.2 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office projects federal debt will rise from 101% of GDP this year to 120% by 2036, with annual interest costs more than doubling to $2.1 trillion over that same period.
Break Up Big Medicine
Cuban, who founded Cost Plus Drugs, said his decision to campaign with Talarico hinged on Talarico's support for the bipartisan "Break Up Big Medicine" bill from Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Cuban believes the bill would cut the deficit and make drug prices "drop like a rock."
The bill would prohibit companies from owning both a health insurer and a pharmacy benefit manager, and it would give regulators the power to force violators to sell assets or divest profits if they don't comply.
"A true capitalist would understand how these economics work," Cuban said, asking Cruz whether he was "ready to whip up support among Republicans" or preferred "people dying because they can't afford care."
Talarico is running against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the 2026 Senate race.
Cuban Has Long Pushed to Break Up 'Big Medicine'
This isn't a new crusade for Cuban. He's been calling for the breakup of large healthcare conglomerates for a while, accusing vertically integrated insurers and providers of "abusing their market positions" while regulators failed to stop consolidation over the past decade.
"There is a reason we have anti-trust laws," Cuban said in May. "If you want less government in healthcare, it can't happen until these conglomerates are broken up."
He's also criticized lawmakers for not backing the Hawley-Warren bill sooner, claiming several Democratic senators privately supported it but wouldn't publicly endorse it without more Republican support.
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