Talarico calls for breaking up healthcare 'monopolies' in new plan with Mark Cuban

AUSTIN, Texas - Texas Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico unveiled a new plan to break up what he's calling "big medicine monopolies" and lower the prices of prescription drugs.

Talarico is teaming up with Mark Cuban to launch the plan. The pair will be in Fort Worth on Saturday to discuss the plan during a live event and podcast recording.

What they're saying:

"Mark and I agree it’s time to break up the Big Medicine monopolies that control our broken healthcare system," Talarico said. "Healthcare corporations are ripping us off — jacking up premiums and profiting off our pain. This plan will break up monopolies, lower medical debt, bring down the cost of prescription drugs, and ensure doctors decide what medication their patients need — not insurance companies."

Talarico argues that healthcare consolidation has caused the cost of care and health insurance to rise. He says the lack of competition and having small, physician-owned practices bought out by larger healthcare groups are driving costs for the consumer and raising profits for insurance companies.

Big picture view:

Talarico cited reports that found 90% of all U.S. hospital beds are controlled by large hospital systems and that three pharmacy benefit managers - CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and Optum Rx - process 80% of prescriptions nationwide.

In a release, Talarcio said he would support antitrust legislation like the Break-up Big Medicine Bill to stop vertically integrated health-care conglomerates, like pharmacy benefit managers, insurance companies and big hospital networks. The plan would ban PBMs from hiding pricing data, incentivize development and approval of generic drugs and cap out-of-pocket costs, according to the announcement.

Cuban, the entrepreneur, founded Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company in 2022, which focused on lowering the cost of prescription drugs by cutting out PBMs and negotiating directly with manufacturers, said Talarico's plan would "break up healthcare monopolies and lower the price of medicine."

What they're saying:

"I’ve spent a long time working to reduce the cost of healthcare for everybody – politicians in Washington have not. Whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, or an independent – you want more affordable, better quality healthcare. The plan James has put together will accomplish exactly that, which is why I am supporting it," Cuban said.

Affordability, healthcare at top of Texans' priorities

A Texas Public Opinion Research poll from Thursday asked voters to choose the two issues they believe are most important for elected officials to prioritize.

Half of those chose affordability and cost of living as either their first choice (30%) or second choice (20%). Health care access and costs were second with 23% of voters listing it as their first or second choice. Economic growth and job creation was third.

When asked, those polled said they felt Talarico would do more to tackle issues with cost-of-living and improve the financial situation of everyday Texans compared to his November opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, 48%-38%.

Texas U.S. Senate race

Talarico and Paxton are locked in a tightly contested and heavily watched race for the U.S. Senate. That same TPOR poll showed Talarico with a six-point lead, though earlier polling from the Texas Politics Project showed a much closer 3% lead for Talarico.

The Austin state representative is looking to become the first Democrat to win a statewide race in Texas since 1994.

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