HOUSTON — Americans spends as much as $365 billion dollars on prescriptions each year.
Since that cost is higher than in lots of other countries, billionaire investor Mark Cuban wanted to change that. The Dallas Mavericks owner helped start an online pharmacy at www.costplusdrugs.com.
Editor's note: This Verify report originally aired in February.
He talked about the venture in an interview with CBS Mornings.
“We all know people who have had to make decisions between their rent and food and medication or they’ve had to ration their medication and that’s just wrong in the United States of America in 2022,” Cuban said.
The online pharmacy cuts out the middleman, which is insurance, and Cuban said it offers the best price on more than 800 generic drugs.
“If you go to costplusdrugs.com put in the medication that you take and you’ll see, 1: What we pay for from manufacturers,” he explained. “You’ll see our markup of 15%. We charge a $3 dollar handling fee and $5 for shipping. That’s it.”
The company does not accept insurance but will accept a Health Savings Account or Flexible Spending Account card to pay for orders. It has carried a selection of generic medication since it opened in January, and can currently deliver in every U.S. state but North Carolina.
The idea started when Cuban got a “cold” email from a doctor who wanted Cuban to invest in a company to make rare drugs more cost-efficient.
Cuban suggested going bigger and the pharmacy was born.
When you visit the site, you do have to create an account and provide your doctor’s office with instructions on how to write the script.
The website has partnered with TruePill pharmacy to fulfill the orders.
Cuban told CBS Mornings that the next step is to get brand-name drugs on the website. He said the real challenge is to get the big drug companies to sell them their product.
“Our mission at costplusdrugs is to be the low-cost provider for every medication on the planet,” he said.