CNBC's Bertha Coombs joins 'Squawk on the Street' with details from her conversation with billionaire investor Mark Cuban, who praised the Trump Administration for its efforts to lower drug prices.

Washington

Mark Cuban, founder of Cost Plus Drugs, has expressed cautious support for the Trump administration's TrumpRx initiative, which aims to lower prescription drug prices. Cuban praised the administration for its efforts and confirmed that Cost Plus Drugs is collaborating with TrumpRx by providing daily updates and integrating its offerings into the platform.

Despite this cooperation, Cuban emphasized that TrumpRx represents only a superficial improvement and is unlikely to significantly change the broader pharmaceutical landscape. He advocates for policy changes that would allow cash payments for drugs to count toward insurance deductibles, a measure he believes would more effectively reduce costs for consumers. Cuban also noted that while some states are adopting such policies, he hopes to see them implemented nationwide.

Mark Cuban on TrumpRx: It's not going to change the game

Welcome back. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban out with some rare praise for the Trump administration surrounding its efforts to lower drug prices. Bertha Kuhn spoke exclusively with Mr. Cuban. Joins us now from the Health USA conference in Las Vegas. Bertha. Hey David. Yeah you know Mark Cuban has really been on a mission to bring down drug prices. That's what Cost Plus is all about. And he feels that the Trump administration is really making a good start at trying to combat that with Most Favored Nation and with Trump R. X. And in fact he's all in when it comes to Trump R. X. Right now we gave him our A. P. I. You know they're gonna be a referral site. We're feeding them daily updates because with Cost Plus is our volumes go up and our prices go down. We pass through those savings and so it'll be great for us. We're really excited about it. I think it's a great thing. This administration completely different. I'm not saying I'm a Donald Trump fan now but credit where credit is due. They are trying their best to reduce the cost of prescriptions and of health care and of insurance. Now they know when I talk to them that all these things I just mentioned to you are the core issues and what they're doing with Trump R. X. Will help but it's just superficial right. It's not gonna have gonna change the game and change everybody's lives right. But at least I give them credit for trying. That's what he talked about. He said Trump R. X. Is a good start but that is about a cash market and yes you'll have Pfizer on there and you'll have AstraZeneca and others. But one of the things he would like to see especially as they negotiate these issues during the shutdown for the extending the tax credits for Obamacare is to add in a provision that would say when people pay cash price because they're not being covered for a drug, they should able to apply that toward their deductible. Here's what he had to say as part of these conversations we have an opening back up the government, you know, particularly with the premium support for the A. C. A. Plans. They should add to that was, you know, make it part of that and other state legislation that, hey, you know, anybody in this state that buys at a cash price, send it to the insurance company and they have to apply it to the deductible because we're cheaper all the time. There are a handful of states that have started to do that now in texas and Tennessee and Arkansas. They're working on that. Other states are looking at it. He'd like to see that go nationwide because really for him the deal is to bring down the costs that he says come from the pharmacy benefit management system to make it more affordable for the patient when they go to that pharmacy counter back over to you. So Bertha, doesn't the trump rx then compete with what he's doing on cost plus drugs? I don't, how did, how did because he said it was benefit them and it would be very big for them. Dr Oz has said that he wants to bring all of these things together. Trump rx is essentially going to be a platform to refer people to the direct to consumer providers, particularly from the drug makers. And he's also going to include good rx in there as well as cost plus. So for cost plus he says if people are going there looking for uh lower priced drugs, that's going to raise their volumes, it's going to bring more people to them, that's going to allow them to buy more drugs, produce more drugs in some cases, some of the shortage drugs and shortages that they're producing for hospitals for examples. So he thinks that's going to really revive the market. But for a lot of us, you know, paying out of pocket and cash and not having a go towards your deductible is tough. In essence, you're paying twice because you're paying insurance, but it's not going towards that deductible on your insurance. Makes sense. So actually this could supercharges growth because he'll bring a lot more volumes. That's what he's hoping. Yeah. I mean, interesting comments, especially from him because he's been a big trump trump critic democrat. And I and I noted bertha that he said, I'm still not a full donald trump fan or something like that. He certainly isn't, he says, but he's very encouraged by dr Oz and the others at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. He says, you know, they really get it and they really want to bring down drug prices. And dr Oz has said he hopes by the end of four years that 95% of drugs in the U. S. Will be more affordable for americans. That is, you know, a high bar to get to, but that is his goal. And you know, he moves very quickly on this last week with the I. V. F. Announcement. You had CVS and Cigna sign on to provide on trump R. X. Those I. V. F. Drugs so that people can find them there. But at the same time, they said that came about and came together in just a couple of days. Yeah. And uh, J. L. P. One's on deck. That was the tease from the president bertha. Thank you bertha. Yes.

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