Mark Cuban offers fixes for healthcare and income inequality

By Bill Dwyer For Chronicle Media

Entrepreneur Mark Cuban chats with moderator Mark Vargas during a wide-ranging discussion last week at Elgin’s Judson University. (Photo by Kevin Sherman. / Judson University)

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban brought an entertaining and thought-provoking mix of opinion, business insight and wry commentary to Judson University’s World Leaders forum in Elgin last week.

Cuban, a self-described “grinder” who rose from lower class status to a net worth of over $4 billion and ownership of a host of businesses, including the Dallas Mavericks, weighed in on such topics as heath care, income inequality, gun control and his approach to problem solving.

Along the way, he poked light hearted fun at his on-air colleagues on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” and took a few barely veiled swipes at the current president, Donald Trump.

“I don’t want to build buildings. It may help you in politics, but that’s just not my style,” he said during last Thursday’s conversation.

Later he noted that “I didn’t get a small million dollar loan from anybody,” an allusion to Donald Trump contending that he got “a very small” loan from his father, a figure that was found to be more than $60 million.

Cuban also showed some political savvy when he humorously sidestepped a direct question from moderator Mark Vargas on whether he would declare his long-rumored candidacy for President.

“When do you think you’ll make a decision on yes or no,” Vargas asked. “And more importantly, what would be some of your legislative priorities…”

“I don’t know who we’re going to draft in the NBA Draft on June 20,” Cuban said to a wave of laughter and applause. “Our legislative priority is to win a playoff game finally.”

Mostly, though, Cuban was serious and thoughtful. While researching health insurance Cuban said, he found his own numerous companies were self-insured, and that “95 percent” of companies with over 5,000 employees self-insured. That led him to wonder why, if the largest, most successful American companies do not rely on purchased insurance “why is our national healthcare plan built around insurance?”

Cuban said health insurance is a financial instrument that can help people pay medical bills, but “doesn’t really make you any healthier.”

“The (current) cost of healthcare isn’t the cost of health care,” Cuban said, noting that the insurance companies introduce so much cost and overhead.

“One of the greatest lies we’ve ever been told is that the number of people insured is a metric for wellness,” Cuban said. He proposed a means tested program were people paid what they could afford for health insurance, and government took care of the rest through loan guarantees. Individuals would pay no premiums or deductibles, and the government would guarantee loans for the money needed to pay their medical bill.

“It’s not like government doesn’t guarantee loans for other things,” Cuban said. “They’ll guarantee loans for houses in some cases… they’ll guarantee loans for small businesses, they’ll guarantee loans for student…”

“The government would save $40 billion a year, and (consumers) would save $45 billion.”

Cuban said when he’s considering how to proceed on an issue, he seeks expert opinion from both ends of the political spectrum. Differing opinions are not just to be tolerated, he said, bit welcomed as essential to making smart decisions.

“I took negative criticism. I took positive criticism,” Cuban said of his healthcare plan. “I don’t want people who agree with me, I agree with me. I need people who disagree with me. You test the hypothesis. You want to know if it’s legit.”

Consulting with experts across the political spectrum, Cuban came up with what he calls “The Tent Plan.” In a nut shell, people earning less than $30,000 annually never pay more than a $25 deductible for services. Those making more than $30,000 a year would pay no more than five or ten percent of their income, and only if they became sick.

Taking the same approach with guns, Cuban said the way past the political deadlock between gun lovers and gun control advocates requires considering the opposition’s reasoning.

“Sometimes.. you have to take the opposite side.” he said, insisting the way forward is to rewrite the 2nd amendment.

“If we just leave it the way it is, nothing’s going to change,” he said. He urged specific, explicit language that makes it clear that every American has a right to own guns and that the federal government may not confiscate people’s guns. And that the state’s have a right to “legislate as they see fit” the purchase and ownership of guns.

One of the most daunting and damaging issues facing the country, Cuban said, is income inequality.

“We’re not helping people on the bottom raise up,” he said. “And really, when you’re getting paid by the hour, you’re always going to be in a grind.”

Workers reliant solely on a paycheck, he said, usually are living paycheck to paycheck, with little margin for dealing with problems as they arise.

The solution, Cuban said, is for companies to offer employees equity in the company they work for.

How most people become wealthy, he said, is through equity appreciation. “Somebody owns stock in a company,” he said. “In my companies… I’ve always given equity to employees.

“We’ve got to change the ethos … of entrepreneurs everywhere, (to) we should be giving stock to all of our employees.”

“If we want to change this country, if we want to get the discussion away from socialism,… the only way that people are going to move from the bottom up, is sharing in the things that appreciate.”

“That’s the only way we’re going to change things. That’s the only way we’re going to close the (wealth) divide.”

The next World Leaders Forum on Oct. 8 will feature Carolyn Kennedy, an author, attorney, former U.S. ambassador to Japan and daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy.

Revenues from the World Leadership events will fund entrepreneur and diversity scholarships for Judson students. Tickets can be obtained through the college’s website.