The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Jon Stewart and Mark Cuban Discuss the Price of Prescription Drugs

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

Jon sits with entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban to discuss his plan to bring more transparency to consumers about the real costs of prescription drugs with his company, Cost Plus Drugs. They also chat about Trump’s desire to be CEO of America and Elon Musk’s role in disrupting global discourse with X algorithms.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, the weekly show. It's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting. You'll be saying to yourself, TGID. Thank God it's Thursday. We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me. The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance it's probably second. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday?

I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. You're listening to Comedy Central. Hey, this is Ryan Chang. The Daily Show is on break this week, but don't worry. We put together some Hey, this is Ryan Chang. The Daily Show is on break this week, but don't worry. We put together some special highlights for you to catch up on in case you miss them. We'll be back on September 10th. Until then, enjoy this episode.

Welcome back to the Daily Show, my guest tonight. An entrepreneur, minority owner of the NBA's Dallas Marrikes, co-founder of Cost Plus Drug Company.. th. th. the th. the th. the th. the Daily. th. the Daily. th. the Daily. th. th. the Daily. th. the Daily. th. th. the Daily. th. thi. thi. thiole. thiole. thiole. The Daily. The Daily show. The Daily show. The Daily show is thiole. The da. The dail is is thiiolioliolioliolioliol-is show is is thiolioli. The Daily show is thi. The Daily show is tonight. An entrepreneur, minority owner of the NBA's Dallas Marricks, co-founder of Cost Plus Drug Company. Please welcome Mark Cuban, sir. Welcome. Thank you. You are... Yes, sir. Security? I didn't hear you. What you say? No!

No! This is a Knicks, the towar. This is a Knicks, they love that. Now, are people in New York, are they... Because of the history between the Mavericks and the Knicks, generally with the trades where you fleeced us to a certain extent? Do you find there's a kindness that is? Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, literally. Yes, from Nick fans. Literally, if I like to's crazy. Literally, great basketball fans here. I get all kinds of love. And that's what you get in New York. That's what they shout at you. Yeah, but now we're, that's what I get. That's what I get. And now it's more thanks for J.B.

Right. Right. Well, Jailin Brunson was not, he started in the playoffs when, yeah, when Luca got hurt. Did you have any idea that he would become this all-NBA phenomenon? He's undersized, he doesn't. His footwork is so phenomenal. No, no idea. I mean, he was talented, but he was picked in the second round.

If everybody knew he would have been a top five pick. I mean if you redraft that draft other than Luca he is a top three or five pick. That's amazing. It's crazy. Yeah but more credit to him he worked on it. Yeah and he's and it just seems like a phenomenal guy and then decided to take a contract for less money than he could have made. So let's talk politics. to the way. to the way now. you. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the to the to to to to the to the the the the the to the the the the to to the to to to to to to to to the the the the to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. the the. the the. the the. the the. the the. the the. the the. the the. the the. to. to. t. t. t. toda. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. the. the way now, you are in this interesting position in your career where you've sort of a bump. You are now, even though I think your leanings are probably you would consider more independent, more libertarian, you are the left's favorite billionaire. You've become... because...

And I can't...I don't know if it's because it's because there's a certain mellowing that occurs as you get older, or if this new sort of tech bro phenomenon is so dystopian in its formulation. Yeah, I mean, this is all who I've always been. I haven't been like the rich guy trying to act like a rich guy. My friends are still my high school buddies, my college buddies, my rugby buddies, but watching what's happened in Silicon Valley is insane. Right. It's not so much a support thing.

It's more like a takeover thing. Trying to put themselves in a position to have as much control as possible. They want want to to to to put to put the the the their their their their their their their their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thr, their, tho, tho, tho, tho, to, tho, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, tho, tho, tho, thr.. I. I. I'm, thr. I'm, thr. I'm, thr. I'm, tooooooooooo. I'm, together, too, together, too, too, too, too be the CEO of the United States of America and they want to be the board of directors that makes him listen to them. It's not a good thing. What is the ethos because it seems like in the old days of innovation there was a certain amount of we're innovating the internet, we're taking things, now it seems much more about sort of this social engineering and trans humanism and we are going to join to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the to the their their their their their their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their. their. their. their. their. their. their. the the the the. the the. the the. the the. the the. the the. the the. the the. the the. the the. theaugea. toea. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the theaugheck. theck and transhumanism, and we are going to join with computers, and together, eight of us are going to run everything. Dominic, right? Is that the ethos, you see?

Yeah, I think... I'm going to go with yeah. You just said, yeah. You know, they've gotten to the point now where they feel like they should control the world, right? And that there should be a CEO in charge of everything. But because they have a good photo app? Because they're rich as f-fix, right? You know, it's just like you get to that point sometimes where I think they've lost the connection to real world. Is it boredom? Like is there a certain extent like if you're like a to to to to to to to to to tooom? to. to. to. to. to. their. to. their. to. their. their. to. their. their. to. their. their. tooomhea. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's, their. It's their. I. It's, toe. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's like. It's like. It's like. It'sthose guys, you just, you've sold so many books that you're just like, I'm gonna live on Mars.

Like, it's just... I think it's more of what's their next act, right? We've, like, we invented this, we did this, we created that. What can we do next? Somebody wants to go to go to Mars? Well, what can't we can we we can we can th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th. th. th th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th th th th th th thi. thi. thi. thi. th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm th. I'm to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the thi. I'm thi. I right? Elon and being one of those powerful people, he's trying to be the most influential man in the world. It sounds like a commercial, but literally that's what Twitter is given. I've got to say, I think he might be that. I don't even think he's trying to be, when you talk about somebody who is setting up satellite links for war zones and also controlling discourse in the most important media platform. I think he is the most powerful.

Because Twitter is in almost every country, right? And so Twitter gives him the ability to connect to the prime minister, the head of every country in the world. That's right. And that person, whoever is in charge of that country has an interest in what happens on Twitter. And what happens on Twitter because of the control of the algorithms being the biggest user is all dependent on Elon Musk. He literally, wherever his thumb wants to go, he gets to push his heart and he gets to

push his heart and he's certainly, I mean, he's transparent about where he wants things to go. I think he's very clear that civil war is inevitable and that white people are under the gun. Right. It's, it's, you know, it'll be like, civil war is inevitable and then he'll write underneath there, hmm, you know. Yeah. Kind of an understatement on there. But I can't, I can't decide whether or not it's better to know exactly where he stands and know where he's going to be put the thumb on because he's not, he's clearly a very bright guy and he has a media empire that has the largest reach and most

influence of anything on the face of the earth and there's no question he's going to leverage it for in this election. No question. But the crazy part is he has more impact globally than he does domestically in my opinion right, theyme. Because when you go on X, you see a preponder, right-leaning people. You don't see a lot of- They're all over my for you. I've never clicked on any of these f-banks. That's the whole thing. That's the way algorithms work, right? What?

Yes. They do the opposite of what I want to see. Yes. When somebody tells them, when you write an algorithm, I'm I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, the the the the the way, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, the the tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi. thi, thi, thi, thr. thr. throooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. tha, tha, when you write one, you get to set the parameters of what you want to see happen. And he certainly has done that to the things he likes. But it's different in other platforms, and the good news is, what, 20% of adults in the United States are on Twitter? So I mean, there's 80% who aren't there. But isn't this a certain amount of tech bro malpractice that thiithis incredible need in the marketplace of something that is slightly less biased

or, you know, toxic when it comes to there. And like, they came out with threads and you're on it for two seconds, you're like, I think I need an app. No, I like threads. Threads, it's getting better. Yeah, it's getting better. No, it's getting better. tha. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. that. th. th. that. that. that. that. that. that. th. thi. that. that. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. to. th. to. to. to. thee. th. the. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. That may be the worst pitch for any of the, but see, you,

you do disrupt industries. I try. Like, there is, see, that's why I would have thought, and I think you've said this, that Trump appealed to you at first because there is a certain outsider. And look, we both know, our government, there is a status quo, and there is a capture by lobbies and by big businesses that write this legislation and end up gaining advantage. That needs to be disrupted. Correct. When did it occur to you that he didn't necessarily want to free it, he wanted to have the deed to the swamp signed over to him?

About the third time I talked to him, right? It was, he wasn't about changing. I mean, the conversations I would have with him, I'm like, there was a time when, are these phone conversations? Yeah, phone conversations, yeah. Is it Zoom? No, it wasn't Zoom, right? Does he face time? No, that didn't face. the. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I mean. I mean. I mean, I'm. I'm. I mean, I'm. I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean. I mean. I the conversations. I the conversations. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I the conversations. I the conversations. I the conversations. I mean, I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm.. I'm......................... I mean, I wasn't going to be at and I'm like, Donald not going, not going. I'm like Donald Donald

trun, not going. I'm like Donald Trump and Mark Cuban, not go to people's house and have dinner. I'm like Donald Trump and Mark Cuban, don't go to people's house and have dinner. Are you kidding me? That's who he is. Right? When we talked about, um, what's he going to do with the ground game? Now, I got all these religious people who are going to do the work for me. Jesus. So he, in his mind, so I think this is very interesting, and maybe you know this too, he runs a family business. So he is in essence, a monarch. It's a dictatorship. And maybe there's not as much malevolence to his actions as, oh, this America can be a subsidiary of the Trump organization. Because this is how I run it. And they might say, well, we have checks and balances and division

of government. And he just thinks himself, yeah, no, we're going to get rid of that. Yeah, that's the sense I get, right? That's what it is. Yeah, this is, this is my country, right? Everybody else is bad, Donald Good. Okay. And so Donald Good, so whoever thinks Donald Good also good. Come along with the rip for the ride, right? I mean, he just brought hate thi. sales pitch. When you talk to him, is that a part of his general conversation or do you think that is a strategic demagoguing of he wants to get that

emotion? That wasn't what we talked about but I think that's Donald's is a sales rep. He's a salesperson. He's going to follow what works and whatever he's going to try all kinds of different things, he's going to tryto all kinds of different people. And he'll try things out. And if it works, he's going to do more of it. Do you see him on his heels now? When was the last time that you sort of had these counseling sessions? No, there were, I talked to him probably 2019. No, I talked to him during the pandemic because. the try to to help him during him during the their their, their, their, their, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the. the. the. the. to, their, to, their, their, he. He, their, their, hea, hea, hea, hea, hea, hea, hea, hea, hea, hea, hea, their, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He's, t. He's, t. He's, t. He's, to. He's, to. He's, to. He's, to. He's, the. He's, the. He's, the. He's, the the the United States, still our country. Right. So I try to help him with PEPA and a lot of different things, a lot of medical care type stuff. Sure. We're the guy who

suggested the bleach, is that you? Is that? Is that? Everything's going great. Everything's working. I gave a right friend. Have you tried Have you tried drinking? I said the the the th. th. th. th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. th. th. th. th., I said injects. All right, fair enough. Fair enough. Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast. The Weekly Show. It's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting.

You'll be saying to yourself, TGID. Thank God it's Thursday. We're going to be talking about. All the things things things things things things things things thin thin thin thin thin thin thin thin thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, TGID, thank God it's Thursday. We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me. The election, economics, earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance it's probably second.

I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. So what is your relationship now with this tech world, and how does AI fit into that, and how do you remain bullish on those innovations, when they so clearly are working to avoid any kind of regulation? When they so clearly are working to avoid any kind of regulation of these new innovations? Okay two things.

One, they're there because they're rich, not because they're tech bros or because they just happen to make their money in tech. I don't think that's really applicable. The AI side, you know, I've been in technology for a long time and you can always look at a new tech, PCs, networks, the internet, streaming, whatever, and say, okay, in five years, this is what's going to happen, right? They have a good sense. With AI, you can't do that.

With large language models, we have no idea whether it's going to zig or zag or what the impact is going to be. And that's the good news is, the good, the bad, the bad, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, is, is, is thi.e, is thi.a, is thi.a, is thi.e, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, the the the the the the the the the the the the the thems of in terms of our the quality and the impact of the AI and the advancements that we're introducing in AI the research that we're doing. We are without question the leader and that's really important from a defense perspective military etc and also you know from a business perspective it's going to have a big impact on this country. I personally think it's generally positive, but there's a lot of uncertainty to come. And so when you... What gives you the hope that it's generally positive? Because I'll... as a counterpoint, we heard the same thing about social media.

And we heard the same thing about all these different innovations of the connectivity. And yet, every time I turn on Congress, Zucker, Zucker, Zucker, Zucker, Zucker, Zucker, Zucker, Zucker, Zucker, to to to to to to to to to too, too, too, too, their, their, too, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, yet, every time I turn on Congress, Zuckerberg is up there like, look, I'm really sorry. I didn't know it was going to kill all your daughters. Like, no, remember, it's still just a short window. Social media, you know, has really only been prominent last six years. And I think we'll learn and will evolve, and the same thing will happen with AI. There's going to be points in time where it's f-up, right, and people are using it.

But I think over time, particularly with Gen Z, right? Gen Z is a different beast. You know, boomers are idiots. I mean, we went from sex drugs and rock and roll to Fox News, I mean it doesn't get any worse than that, right? And they they they they they they they they they's they's they's they's they's they're they're they're they're they're they're they're thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. th. And people. th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, I thi, thi. And, I thi. We, thin. We'll, th. We'll, th. We'll, th. We'll, th. We'll, I thi. We'll, I thi. We'll, I thi. thi. And, I th're trying to... We haven't done well. No, and they're trying to define regulations, right? And that's hard, right? That's really really hard. And so I think Gen Z has a better understanding, a better feel for AI and where it's going and would be able to come up with better uses, better implementations and better regulations. Does it concern you that the implementation time frame, so when you think about the Industrial Revolution, right, and you think about the disruption or globalization, the disruption to the workforce, the way that

labor can travel and labor cannot travel but capital can, right? And all these different things that were kind of a race to the bottom for American workers to a large extent. But all those changes took place over, sometimes a century, sometimes decades. The changes in AI, the disrupt right, so when you've got something that disrupts to maybe even a larger extent than globalization did, to maybe a larger extent than the Industrial Revolution did, and it's going to happen by Thursday. In what world are humans in any way capable and set to withstand that disruption? I think we'll be able to withstand it, but I think it's going to be very disruptive.

And the problem is, it's going to happen anyways. And, you know, somebody here, your son at Duke, right, can say I've got this great idea, I'm going to implement it with an open source, large language model, and I'm going to take it in this direction. He did say that to me. Right? But Gen Z is different. Yeah. Right. Gen Z I think looks at humanity differently. It's kinder. Like I've got three kids 15, 18, 18 and 21 right? And they're just nicer, right? They're not like we were. So are you trying to say like, are we weathering what is the last gasp of this kind th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, the th, the the th, the their, th, thi, their, their, to to to're just nicer, right? They're not like we were. So are you trying to say, like, are we weathering what is the last gasp of this kind of more uh, misanthropic moment in history? So in your mind, whatever happens, this is going to be a more misanthropic decade that will be be ameliorated by this younger generation? I hope so, right? I hope so, because the regulatory cap, the way we've always done politics right now is everybody's chasing power,

and nothing will give you more power than military and AI. And I think the algorithm, I mean, we talk, going back to algorithms again, right, driven by AI, that's the most powerful element in the world right now because everybody just gets whatever they're seeing reinforced and if you want to influence somebody just manipulate the algorithm and you'll get their attention and so but I think so what's the remedy on that if there's no one working a pushback if pushing back on that is considered censorship it's just one of those things where you've got to go through it it's an evolution of a new media model just the the push the push the push the push the push the push the push the the th th th the th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus. thus. thus. thus. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thee. thi. to theeeeea. to thi. the thi. the thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th it. It's just one of those things where you've got to go through it. It's an evolution of a new media model.

Just an evolution of technology, more than media, right? Because if we don't do it, the Chinese and the Russians will. Because the only thing that holds AI back is processing power, electricity and ingenuity. And I think our ingenuity wins. I'm still a big believer in an American,. I still believe that we've got the best technologists in the world. Right. And I think that's why we have to open that door for AI. So ultimately it becomes a question of the world. The world is going to be carved up in the way that it's always been somewhat carved up in terms of its resources. The question is, is it carved up by the wester. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I, th. I, th. the world, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. th. th. thi. thi. thi. that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thr. th. th. thr. th. th. thr. thi. th. the. the. the. the.'m assuming that Russia and China see a unique vulnerability in the West's ascension in this moment that's been the world order since 1945. Everybody

looks at it right and looks at it and says AI if I can he who controls AI right and so but we've done a good job of limiting processors, the new semiconductor act will help us quite a bit, and we'll bring things, you know, we're already doing most of those things here. Right. So how do you resist that? the ring, right?

So like, Lord of the rings, the ring of power, like it's the one thing, boy, when you just don't want to let it go. How do you resist that? Because you've got the money. You've got the influence. You could be that guy. You could be setting those things up and doing all that. But you're just trying to get us like better generic aspirin. Like, what is happening? What makes you- How do you want it that way? No, no, no, but I'm what I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I th. I'm what I'm what I'm what I'm what I'm saying I'm saying I'm saying I'm saying I'm saying I'm saying I'm saying I'm saying. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. th. th.ir to their their their th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thin thin thin thin thin thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' th. I's th. I's th. I's thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' th. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the the the the the the the the th what could be better than fucking up the health care system in the United States of America and American so it's affordable.

Right. But that dangerous thing. There's a path there. There is, I imagine when you get in that position at that height, you can't help but hear the siren call of, you could run this whole, thank you. But maybe a little bit maybe a little bit but you know just I hate to use the cliche but the way I was raised I've got three kids right right and I don't want to miss that you know I don't want to be

95 and look back and say I was present but I didn't get to know my kids at all you know I'd rather say I've health care and everybody's got a better world to live in. And my kids and I have friends. We're close, you know, they bring over the grandkids and the kids' kids and that's just more important to me. Right. And do you have your eye on other industries right now where you can do sort of, the same

things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, and the, and the, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, th. I. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, th. And, the. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. And, the. And, the. gonna get that sales pitch in there. Yeah yeah yeah. Cost plus drugs.com is literally in process of having a significant impact on the drug market, right? We are pushing generic drugs down now, we're right around the corner from. Well, you're negotiating prices in a way that hasn't been done prior. Right, so when you go prior to us, there was, whether you're an employer playing for your employees. And it's just run by these boards.

Yeah, these pharmacy benefit managers are dictating prices left and right. They're basically stealing money from employers and employees. And so we walked in there and said, what's the one missing piece? Transparency. So when you go to Cost Plus Drugs. You put in the name of the medication you might take. Let's just say to Dillophil, right? I know you don't know what that means. Sure, to Dillophil. Yeah, so sure. I'm so hopped up on Dillifill right now. You have no idea.

Do you know what it is? I don't. Generic Seattle. Um. As I said before, I am so hot down to the dealer there. When you go to Costless drugs.com and you put it in to Dillophil or whatever, first thing we do is we show you our cost. Then we show you our markup, which is always 15% and everybody gets the same price. Because we're mail order to start, we're starting to partner with pharmacies now. There's a shipping fee and then there's a fee for the pharmacist to review pharmacist pharmacist pharmacist pharmacist pharmacist pharmacist to review pharmacist to review pharmac order to start. We're starting to partner with pharmacies now. There's a shipping fee, and then there's a fee for the pharmacist to review everything.

And when you do it that way, and this is legal? Of course it's legal. Yeah, it's good all American capitalism. But let me just tell you the impact. There are drugs that, there's a drug of a matine if you just walked into a big pharmacy, a big chain pharmacy was going to be $2,000. You go to Cost Plus Drugs.Dop, it's under 30. There's a drug, Droxidop, right? That's just insane. I had a friend, I had a friend, Landon who was in a terrific car crash and he needed this

drug, Drugs, d'opa. every three months. I'm like, let me just check to see if we can get it. $64 a month and the price has gone down since. All because we were transparent. But like, weren't there dudes like Martin Screlli in jail for shit like that? Like when you jack prices up like that and why can't the United States government negotiate in terms of, if you're the largest customer to any industry, it's criminal that you wouldn't use any leverage leverage thaaee thae tha tha the the the thoes thoes thoes thoes thoes thoes thoes thoes thoes thoes thoes thus thoes the th. th. thoes tho-a. thus. thi. the. tho-a. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the. the. the. the. the. the. the. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to teean. thean. thean. the. the. th you're the largest customer to any industry, it's criminal that you wouldn't use any leverage to make those things more available to people. The problem was there's these thing called pharmacy benefit managers, right? And they're basically responsible for doing the negotiating with, to a certain extent,

Medicare, but with all the large employers. If you're one of those big companies that cover 150 million employees across the country, that's, th. th. th. th. th. thuuuuuu. the their their their thu. their their thuii. thu. It's their their thi. It's their thi. It's thii. It's thii. It's thi. It's their thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. their their their their their their their, their, their, their, th. The problem. The problem. The problem. The problem. The problem. It's, th. It's th. It's th. It's th. It's thi. It's thi. It's thi. I I's thi. theea. thea. thei. theiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. theii. their their thei. their their thea.that cover 150 million employees across the country, that's who you negotiate with. And the first rule when they negotiate, they say is, you can't talk about this. It's like Fight Club. You cannot say what your price is. You can't say what we're doing in our negotiation. And they got so big doing that that that nobody ever questioned them. We come along. And actually Martin Screlli plays a little part in this whole thing because when he got thrown in jail, I was talking to Alex Sashmaianski, my partner, and

it's like if this dude can just jack up the price, it is not an efficient market. That means nobody knows what the real cost is. If we publish our price, boom, the whole world's going to change. As it tur- turns, as it's out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their. I's, their, their, their. I's, their. I's, their, their, I, I, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I. I, I. I, I. I. I, I. I is, I. I. I is, I. I. I is, I. I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's. I's. I's, th. I's. I'm. I'm. t. t. t. to. t. t. to. t. toe. toe. toe. to. toe. t. to. th. to. th. to. th. to. to. th. to, the FTC just came out with this report criticizing the PBMs. They used our pricing data. The smartest thing we did was... So now, so this brings up, so FTC is a federal trade commission and boy there's nothing the tech world hates more than the FTC. Then the FTC. So how does that square? Well, you know, like any agency, they do something's right and something's wrong. So, but in this case with the PBMs, they're crushing them and it's justified.

Now, is it something that can't be done throughout the health care? Because one of the difficulties with health care is the contingencies of, you can't really comparison shop when you have a heart attack, chop when you're basically saying, about, you could get heart attack treatment at this hospital, it's $150,000, but you go up the street and it's $12,000. And it's all about training. We'll see, and what happens is who's paying when you, you know, God forbid, have a heart attack and you go there and let's just say it's going through your employer. Right. the employer has no idea what their their their their their their their idea their idea their idea their idea their idea their idea their idea their idea their idea their idea their idea their idea their idea their idea their idea their idea is their idea their idea their idea their idea is no idea is no idea their idea their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their th. th. th. th. th. thea. thea. thea. tea. tea. tea. tea. tea. tea. thea. thea. thea. thea. the it approved today, we're going to publish all contracts. Never before has it been done where, from my companies, we're saying if you want to do business with us,

if this hospital system wants to work with my companies, whatever it may be, we're going to publish them and put them online for anybody to see all of our pricing. But so the right, I think that's fantastic. But I'm curious then, why is there such pushback on this idea of applying those same kinds of competitions and things to our health care system? You know, we talk about we have got a privatized health care system and it's the best in the world. But very clearly it doesn't function like a free market. No, it's not free market. So what is so terrible about getting everybody health care?

Why is that such anathem of? But these companies, these PBMs and the big insurance companies, they call them the Bucca's the largest insurance companies, right? They are so big, like I keep on saying, big employers cover 150 million people, right? And their their their their their their their their their they are they are they are they are they are they are they are they are they are they are they are they are they are to keep to keep is to keep keep keep keep keep keep keep is to keep is to keep is to keep is to keep is to say, to keep keep keep keep is to say, to say is to to to to to to to th.k. th. that's is is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is th.k.k.k. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. toe. th. toe. th. th. the. the. the. the. the the that that that. that that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that's that's that's that's that's th the CEO of this big company doesn't know much about health care and their health care costs. And so they just say to them, okay we're going to write you a check for a rebate even though it's your sickest employees that are paying for that rebate. Right. They just don't know. And the... It's so interesting because it's such a non-villanist, you know, nobody ever talks about like big prescription benefit manager. Right, like that's a good thing. It's always like big oil is going to come down or big tobacco or big farm and it's really like the PBMs. Big middle manager. Yeah, that's what it is right and you cut them out, right?

There's no reason for the big ones that control 90% of the prescriptions that are there's no reason for them to exist. There are other th. the their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. too. too. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to be. to be. to be. to. to. to. to. to. tobe. tobe. tobe. tobe. tobe. Big.. Big............................. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So, t. So, t. So, t. So, t. So. So, t. So. So, tob. So. So, tob. So. So, tob. So. So, tob. So. So. So, tob. So,through PBMs, right, that show you all your claims, show you all your data, show you all your pricing that do it for a fraction of the price. Right. So there's an opportunity to disruption baby. Disruption baby. Disruption baby. What's what I like to say? What's that now? What else you have your eye on? As far as health care? Health care. It's gonna be with the health care. It's health care. It's the health. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. their. It's. there's. It's. there's there's there's there's there's. It's. It's. there's. there's. there's. there's. there's there's there's there's there's there's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's there's there's there's there's there's the. It's the. It's the. It's there's the. It's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's that. I'm with that too. And it might be, you know, with that money if you could help the Nix. Okay, forget it. Now, everything's fine. Let's go, Mavs. No, stop.

Stop. Thank you very much for coming by. It was always a fascinating conversation. Check out cost plus drugs. Check out cost plus drugs. Explore more shows from the Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Fairmount Plus. Paramount Podcasts.

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