Mark Cuban has made it clear he isn’t on board with the new Republican approach to rewriting the Affordable Care Act. He isn’t the first Shark to do so, as Kevin O’Leary also did not hold back on speaking against the Trump administration’s new housing policy.
Their plan would shift the current Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies into people’s health savings accounts. Donald Trump and several Republican lawmakers pushed this approach during the final stretch of the recent government shutdown.
This happened when Democrats were pressing to keep the existing subsidies from running out. The clash created another round of debate over where the country’s healthcare policy should go next.
Mark Cuban Criticizes the Republican Healthcare Proposal
Cuban has been trying to nudge the healthcare industry in a different direction through his discount medication company. He shared a post on X on November 14, where he made it clear he wasn’t happy with the new proposal.
The Shark Tank investor did not hold back at pointing out how intellectually bankrupt the proposal was. He said, “This is dumb. Really dumb. Really, Really Dumb.”
He argued that the plan leaves too much room for the money to be spent on things unrelated to medical care. This is a genuine concern because there is nothing in the proposal that ensures people would actually put those dollars toward health costs.
Mark further elucidated his point, saying that taxpayer money should go toward real medical services and not be placed in private HSAs where the purpose of the funding can drift away from basic care.
Cuban ranted away, saying, “So your tax dollars could be throwing parties! Does this mean I like the subsidies going to the big insurance carriers? No. It means there are better ways to do this. Whatever we do, taxpayer money HAS TO GO DIRECTLY TOWARDS PAYING or Guaranteeing NECESSARY MEDICAL CARE. Sending money to people’s HSAs is really dumb.”
A Renewed Fight Over the Direction of US Healthcare
The reaction to the Republican proposal shows that the national argument about healthcare is far from settled.
The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) has faced pushback since the day it launched. The opponents say it drives up expenses and doesn’t deliver strong results. Those who support the proposal believe that putting ACA dollars into private HSAs allows families to decide for themselves where their health funds should go.
Cuban’s concern is that the proposal leaves too much room for the money to drift away from actual medical costs. And healthcare is not the only field that is under scrutiny right now from experts and Sharks alike.
Problems With The Housing Market Proposals
Republican policymakers have also been looking for ways to fix the housing market. Prices remain high, and many buyers feel shut out.
To fix this, Donald Trump and his administration brought up the possibility of offering a 50-year mortgage. It would be another option alongside the standard 30 and 15-year terms and could lower monthly payments, even though it would extend the life of the loan by decades.
The proposal didn’t sit well with Kevin O’Leary, who quickly pointed out several problems he sees with it.
Kevin said, “I don’t think that’s really going to change the metrics for people. What’s happened in the mortgage market over the last four years is we had this extraordinary period where interest rates were sub-4%, so mortgages were 3.8% to 4.2%, which is extraordinary over a 50-year metric.”
“We have to remember, mortgages in America have been 7% forever, and many people bought homes or were successfully ending up owning all the equity in them at 7%,” he added.
Kevin O’Leary’s Breakdown of the Real Cost Behind the Loan
After explaining the mathematical metrics, Kevin went on to point out the loopholes in the proposed policy. He said, “This is just kind of financial engineering, because with the amount of interest you’re going to pay over 50 years, you’ll never own the home.”
A mortgage stretched over fifty years starts to resemble long-term rent. Most of what you pay each month would go to interest, leaving only a small portion to actually reduce the balance. Someone taking that deal could spend much of their life sending money to the lender while barely making headway toward real ownership.
Building on the same loophole and criticism, Mr. Wonderful said, “That’s the problem. It’s the same as renting in my view, so I don’t like the idea.”
He went on to add that, “with this idea of a 50-year mortgage, if you’re 40, which is the average age of buying a home now, you’re gonna be friggin’ dead before the mortgage is paid off,” O’Leary wrote on LinkedIn. “So you’re never gonna own the house.”
Sharks Speak Up as Public Frustration Grows
Mark Cuban and Kevin O’Leary don’t agree on everything, but both of them landed in the same place on these policy ideas. Both felt that the ideas were built more on wishful thinking than real relief for the people who need help right now.
The message from both the Sharks is just a reminder of the growing frustration across the country. People want policies that make daily life less stressful, not plans that create new problems down the line.
