Mark Cuban on why AI is the wrong job-killer target: It’s the health care costs, stupid

Billionaire Mark Cuban says skyrocketing health care costs, not AI, are the biggest threat to jobs.

While Cuban may be best known for his time as a former investor on the hit show Shark Tank, as well as for his more than two decades as an owner of the Dallas Mavericks, he has become deeply involved in the mechanics of the health care industry since founding his online discount pharmacy, Cost Plus Drugs in 2022.

In an X post last month, Cuban wrote: “I hope people realize that for the foreseeable future, the cost of health care benefits will get more people fired, or not hired, than AI.”

His comments on AI and health care come as companies prepare to pass along rising health care costs to employees and increasingly scrutinize headcount thanks in part to the influence of AI tools.

The U.S. spends more on health care costs than any other country, and that sum has skyrocketed over the past two decades. As of the last available figures reported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in 2024, U.S. spending on health care stood at $5.3 trillion, or about 18% of GDP. That’s more than double the $2.5 trillion the country spent in 2000. 

Even among rich nations, the U.S. stands out. As of 2024, the U.S. spent $14,775 per person on health care—almost double the $7,860 per person spent in other high-income countries, even while some studies show Americans use less care on average. Health care costs have risen each year over the past five years, according to a survey of more than........

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