Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Discussing Possible Partnership with Humana
Industry trade publications reported earlier this month on talks that Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company is working with Humana to lower the cost of prescription drugs for employers.
Cuban said the discussions call for Cost Plus Drugs and Humana’s CenterWell Health to provide a better pharmacy experience for consumers and a direct-to-employer model for prescription drugs.
CenterWell Health is an integrated health care services brand established by Humana to offer primary care, home health, and pharmacy services designed for better health outcomes under one umbrella. It is a large and growing arm of the organization that is experiencing strong volume growth.
Established in 2022, Cost Plus Drugs works directly with drug manufacturers to bypass prescription drug intermediaries and deliver lower prices. The Cost Plus price for consumers includes a 15% markup and $5.00 shipping fee. More than 2,500 medications are available through Cost Plus.
At the 2025 Forbes Healthcare Summit, Cuban said, “We’re talking with CenterWell because they do such a great job of it, and so they’re able to give us access and potentially partner. We’ll still working on things so that we can partner with them and bring volume to them, or they can volume to us for consumers.”
Humana CEO Jim Rechtin says, “We are known as an insurance company, but if we are going to deliver against consumer needs, we need to be in spots in the delivery system that can really impact the access, quality, and, ultimately, the cost of health care. That’s what CenterWell is all about, and pharmacy is good example. With pharmacy, we basically looked at the traditional model, and we are not getting the cost efficiency, the affordability that we need to make sure our members are getting access to medications the way they need to get access to medications. So, we built a pharmacy to try to correct that.”
Earlier this year, CenterWell negotiated an agreement with Novo Nordisk to offer direct-to-consumer pricing for GLP-1 weight loss medications for cash-paying patients. More deals are expected to follow in 2026. A partnership with Cost Plus Drugs could simplify and streamline pharmacy services for thousands of employers, potentially saving members billions of dollars.