Billionaire entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has called the U.S. healthcare system, “f****d up” while highlighting deductibles as “the biggest problem in healthcare,” which are designed by insurance companies.
What Happened: Cuban explained in his latest X post that insurance companies design plans with higher deductibles and lower premiums leaving the work of bill collection in the hands of doctors and hospitals.
A deductible is the amount of money paid by the patient before their insurance company pays for the covered expenses as chosen under their policy.
“Often we choose higher deductibles because we are healthy or because we can only afford the lowest premium plan,” adds Cuban, inferring that if higher deductibles were left unpaid hospitals end up becoming “bill collectors,” “DESPITE HAVING NO SAY in the (insurance) plans” and deductibles bracket that patients choose.
“That is one fucked up system that needs to be redesigned,” adds Cuban.
Why It Matters: Cuban’s tweets shed light on the growing problem of high deductibles in the U.S. healthcare system.
The “higher deductibles” turn out to be out-of-pocket costs which create a barrier to accessing care, potentially leading to delayed treatment, worsening health conditions, and mounting medical debt.
Cuban concluded his post by calling out insurance company practices that contribute to healthcare costs, including “delay tactics” and denials of claims. He called for a redesigned system for patient well-being and fairness for healthcare providers.
Here is a list of Insurance sector ETFs that investors could look at:
| ETFs | YTD Performance | One Year Performance |
| SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (NYSE:KIE) | 3.30% | 17.59% |
| iShares US Insurance ETF (NYSE:IAK) | 3.66% | 17.32% |
| Invesco KBW Property & Casualty Insurance ETF (NASDAQ:KBWP) | -0.33% | 12.48% |
Price Action: The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, fell on Monday. SPY declined 0.46% to $597.21, and QQQ plunged 1.18% to $519.87, according to Benzinga Pro data
Read Next:
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
