Mark Cuban Is My Drug Dealer of Choice
I wrote a LinkedIN post that soared past 100,000 views within 24 hours. With a little help from an email exchange with Mark Cuban. I like his drug company. I decided I also like his ways. And he decided he liked my shit. So he shared it and it went bonkers.
I didn’t write it with any quid pro quo in mind. And I didn’t even write it particularly well. It’s no masterpiece. But it was truth. And the comments showed it touched a nerve. It’s what you have to do with a company—figure out why people need you around, and then talk about it. Also, listen about it. Because sometimes your customers are better at expressing what’s so great about you than you are.
I emailed our pal Mark Cuban to gush about Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, PBC and he wrote back asking to “spread the word”. So I'm sharing it below. Now, I'm aware of some complexities involved in this industry and this model. It's just that I'm not always sure the industry's aware of the complexities in people's lives. So I said:
Subj: Cost Plus Drugs FTW
Hey Mark -
I truly hope that Cost Plus Drugs starts a revolution. I mean, I hope it WINS one. And I hope it inspires other enterprising people and businesses to cut through the type of Kafkan knot of insurance, pharmaceutical, and medical bureaucracy that led me to you.
I’ve had bad migraines since 4th grade. Took me 20+ years to even find a doctor to prescribe meds that help. I managed to function, have a good career, married/kids, etc. You gotta find a doctor who has migraines if you want to get any credit for that or, say, a cure.
Finally, I got a prescription that works. I feel like I’ve been chasing those meds like some kind of junkie ever since. I’m lucky to have had insurance, so it’s a $30 copay (without, it’s more like $400+/mo event though it's generic). But they won’t increase quantities, if I lose some I’m screwed. If you change jobs/insurance, you're screwed. It quickly becomes about choosing between awful prices or awful migraines. Granted, these are truly trivial issues compared to what some face. But knowing my little problems loom so large for me is what helps me understand what a big deal it is when it’s a bigger deal.
What really got me pissed was when my son needed meds for a nagging ailment. We could pay $1200 for them at a US pharmacy. Or we could order through a Canadian pharmacy that imports it from India (the one in Asia) and get it in 7+ weeks. Nothing ticks you off more as an American than finding out you’d need Canada’s government-funded services to work with Indian entrepreneurs for 2 months to get meds your kid needs that are sitting on a shelf at the pharmacy down the block. Nice.
Then I discovered Cost Plus Drugs. Where it's about 20 bucks, with no insurance, ordered through the mail in 3 clicks, for me to get what amounts to life-enabling meds so I can get on with, you know, life.
I don’t know if I’m for nationalized medicine, but I do know I’m for any organization doing a better job of helping people, like so many caring frontline workers do all the time (despite the hurdles they too face). So I hope Cost Plus Drugs opens a pop-top can of whoopass on any purveyor of molecules that help people if they aren’t truly focused on a purpose to help people.
Anyway, thank you for jumping into this fray. LMK if you need a testimonial (or use the above). Good luck on Cost Plus—illegitimi non carborundum.
"Everyone should have safe, affordable medicines with transparent prices."
– Mark Cuban
“LFG."
– Me
