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

Billionaire Mark Cuban says skyrocketing healthcare 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 healthcare 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 healthcare benefits will get more people fired, or not hired, than AI.” His comments on AI and healthcare come as companies prepare to pass along rising healthcare costs to employees and increasingly scrutinize headcount thanks in part to the influence of AI tools.

The U.S. spends more on healthcare 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 healthcare 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 healthcare—more than double the $7,860 per person spent in other high-income countries, even while some studies show Americans use less care on average.

Healthcare costs have risen each year over the past five years , according to a survey of more than 1,800 employers by Mercer, a global consulting firm.

As these costs have risen, they have become a bigger and bigger weight on companies, cutting into wage growth and hiring.

Mercer estimates healthcare costs per employee could increase 8.2%—the largest jump since 2003—in 2027.

To accommodate these higher costs, nearly half of large U.S. employers with 500 employees or more said they expect to make changes to their medical plans next year , such as raising deductibles or copays, that will increase employees’ out-of-pocket costs, Mercer found.

Yet, some workers may also pay for these higher costs with their jobs.

A 2024 paper published by Yale’s Tobin Center for Economic Policy found that a 1% increase in healthcare prices translates to a roughly 0.4% decrease in payroll and employment at employers outside the health sector.