Mark Cuban Says Let's Take Healthcare Back To 1955 — See A Doctor, Get A Bill, Pay What You Can

What if paying for healthcare were as straightforward as getting healthcare? Cost Plus Drugs co-founder Mark Cuban wants to strip away the insurance middlemen, complicated contracts and layers of administration that he believes have made American healthcare unnecessarily expensive.

In a January 2025 post on his Blog Maverick website, Cuban proposed a return to a simpler payment model, using 1955 as his reference point.

“Hypothetically, It should look like 1955 (I picked this year because of Back to the Future :),” Cuban wrote. “Patients go to providers for care. Providers provide that care. Patients get a bill and if they can afford it, they pay that bill. That’s it.”

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Cuban’s central argument is that healthcare reform should begin with one question. How should care be paid for when patients cannot afford it? He believes the answer should be addressed directly, rather than buried beneath the financial arrangements surrounding medical treatment.

Cutting the cost of healthcare administration

Cuban wants providers to disclose their costs and profit margins and make healthcare contracts public. Greater transparency, he argues, would help employers and other payers compare prices and identify unnecessary expenses.

He also wants to reduce the role insurance companies play in routine healthcare transactions. Claims processing, payment disputes and complex contracts add administrative work, while the costs of that work ultimately become part of the healthcare system’s overall spending.

His proposal favors more direct payments between patients and providers, with insurance playing a smaller role in routine care. That would represent a major shift in how Americans pay for medical services, particularly for people accustomed to employer-sponsored health plans.

Cuban has pursued a similar emphasis on transparent pricing through Cost Plus Drugs, the online pharmacy he co-founded. The company discloses its drug costs and applies a defined markup, offering an alternative to less transparent pricing arrangements.

In his healthcare post, Cuban also estimated the potential savings from reducing administrative expenses, fraud, overbilling and upcoding. His calculations suggested substantial reductions in overall spending, although the figures were estimates rather than independently established savings.

What healthcare looked like in 1955

Cuban’s reference point offers some historical context, but healthcare in 1955 wasn’t a cash-only system.

Private health insurance was already expanding, particularly employer-sponsored coverage for hospital stays. Patients also commonly paid doctors directly, and coverage for physician services was less comprehensive than many modern insurance plans.

Medicare and Medicaid did not exist until 1965. Some doctors reduced fees or waived bills for patients who could not afford treatment, but there was no universal guarantee of care regardless of ability to pay. Medical options were also far more limited, and serious illness could still leave families facing substantial expenses.

The 1955 comparison is therefore about how healthcare payments were handled, not a proposal to recreate midcentury medicine. Cuban wants to simplify the financial side of healthcare while allowing medical treatments and technology to continue advancing.

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Who pays when patients cannot afford care?

Cuban’s proposal leaves a difficult question at its center. If patients pay providers directly when they can afford treatment, how should care be funded for everyone else?

His post considers potential roles for employers and government programs in covering those costs. Any move toward a less insurance-dependent system would also need to address expensive illnesses, financial risk and the need for providers to receive reliable payment.

The proposal is an argument for changing how healthcare is financed, not a complete policy blueprint. Cuban’s focus is on making prices transparent, reducing administrative costs and separating the question of paying for routine care from the question of financing treatment for people who cannot afford it.

The year 1955 may have been inspired by “Back to the Future,” but the challenge Cuban raised is about the present. Simplifying healthcare payments could reduce some of the system’s costs. Figuring out how to ensure that people who cannot pay still receive care remains the harder part.

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