‘U.S Has the Best Healthcare in the World. It’s Not Even Close’ Says Mark Cuban — But the Problem Is Most Americans Can’t Afford It

Few things get Americans riled up quite like healthcare. Between insurance premiums, confusing coverage rules, and medical bills that can throw a household budget into a tailspin, the system gives people plenty to complain about.

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban isn’t joining the chorus. He doesn’t think U.S. healthcare is bad. In fact, quite the opposite. Cuban believes the country has the best medical care in the world. 

“The U.S. has the best healthcare in the world. It’s not even close. The problem is it’s not accessible to everybody, it’s not affordable to most,” Cuban said in an Oct. 14 interview with Nick Gillespie on "The Reason Interview” podcast.

Cuban blamed the economics of the industry, arguing that massive healthcare conglomerates generating hundreds of billions of dollars in annual revenue have too much control over how the system operates.

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The Data Doesn’t Back Up His Big Claim

Cuban’s confidence makes for a bold statement, but international comparisons tell a different story.

The Commonwealth Fund's latest major international comparison, published in 2024, ranked the U.S. last overall among 10 high-income countries. Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom took the top three spots.

The report evaluated access to care, treatment processes, administrative efficiency, equity, and health outcomes. The U.S. ranked second in care processes but struggled in other areas, including access and health outcomes.

That doesn’t mean U.S. doctors lack skill or that the country isn’t a leader in medical research. It means the broader healthcare system isn’t delivering the strongest overall results compared with its wealthy peers.

The price tag is another problem. According to a KFF update on healthcare affordability, 28% of adults said they had skipped or postponed needed care because of cost in the previous 12 months. About 22% said they had trouble paying, or couldn’t pay, medical bills. Nearly half of adults also said affording healthcare costs was difficult.

For a system Cuban calls the best in the world, those numbers raise an obvious question: What good is outstanding medical care if people can’t afford to use it?

Cuban Wants to Fix the Economics

Cuban’s criticism centers on the companies that control major parts of the healthcare business, from insurance to pharmacy benefit management. He argues that their influence makes the system more expensive and less transparent.

Artificial intelligence (AI) could help expose some of those costs. During the interview, Cuban suggested that employers use AI to review health benefits contracts and ask, “Where are they ripping us off?”

He sees potential for the technology to identify costly contract terms and eventually improve medical research and personalized treatment. But his central argument isn’t about technology. It’s about making the economics of healthcare work better for patients.

Cuban’s view comes with a clear distinction between medical capability and affordability. The United States can produce advanced treatments and world-class specialists while still leaving millions of people struggling to pay for care.

The latest international rankings don’t support his claim that the U.S. has the best overall healthcare system. But his challenge to the industry is harder to dismiss. Medical breakthroughs may be impressive, but for patients facing bills they can’t pay, the quality of care can feel beside the point.

On the date of publication, Caleb Naysmith did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.