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Humana’s CenterWell Pharmacy announced a partnership with Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company to develop “new, end-to-end employer prescription solutions,” the companies announced Monday, April 27, 2026. In this photo, Mark Cuban (center) and Jim Rechtin, CEO of Humana (right), talk with Forbes Senior Healthcare Contributor Bruce Japsen about improving the patient experience at the pharmacy at the Forbes Healthcare Summit on December 4, 2025 at NYU Lagone Health in Manhattan.<\/p>\n
Jamel Toppin<\/p>\n
Mark Cuban\u2019s Cost Plus Drug Company and Humana\u2019s CenterWell Pharmacy Monday confirmed they have formed a partnership \u201cto develop new end-to-end employer prescription solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Humana, which is best known as a provider of Medicare Advantage health insurance for millions of older adults, also operates the fast-growing CenterWell health services business that includes pharmacy, specialty pharmacy and related distribution. CenterWell contributed more than $22 billion in revenue to Humana\u2019s total sales last year of $129.6 billion, according to the insurer\u2019s most recent financial report.<\/a><\/p>\n Talk of such a partnership first became public last December <\/a>at the annual Forbes Healthcare Summit in New York but specifics weren\u2019t revealed at that time. On Monday, the companies said the collaboration has come together and is \u201cfocused on discounted prescription and delivery services.\u201d Financial terms weren\u2019t disclosed.<\/p>\n As part of the collaboration, CenterWell Pharmacy, which employs more than 500 pharmacists who provide around-the-clock patient support, will be a pharmacy partner of Cost Plus Drugs. In addition, Cost Plus Drugs digital pharmacy\u2019s \u201csoftware as a service\u201d or \u201cSaaS\u201d solution, SwiftyRx, will be used by CenterWell Pharmacy for its medication order intake operations.<\/p>\n \u201cBy combining SwiftyRx\u2019s innovative technology<\/a>, Cost Plus Drugs\u2019 industry\u2011leading low prices, and CenterWell Pharmacy\u2019s distribution capabilities, the organizations intend to partner on a new employer-based program design,\u201d the companies said in a joint statement Monday ahead of this week\u2019s Asembia ASX26 Summit, which draws more than 10,000 specialty pharmacy, healthcare and other prescription drug related companies to Las Vegas. \u201cThe goal is to simplify medication access and lower patient cost by streamlining patient onboarding, automating benefit checks, reducing cost-to-fill, and driving greater operational efficiencies.\u201d<\/p>\n Driven in part by rising costs of prescription drugs, U.S. employer health care costs are projected to rise more than 9 percent this year, exceeding $17,000 per employee, according to Aon, a benefits consultancy. <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cEveryone should be able to get safe, affordable medication,\u201d Mark Cuban, co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs said in a statement Monday announcing the partnership. \u201cThis collaboration gives Cost Plus Drugs the chance to support more consumers. We\u2019re working with CenterWell Pharmacy because we trust the team and like what they\u2019re doing in trying to improve prescription affordability.\u201d <\/p>\n The companies said Cost Plus Drugs\u2019 SwiftyRx platform will enable CenterWell Pharmacy to \u201chave the capability to offer home delivery pharmacy services to Humana\u2019s eligible workforce enrolled in the Humana associate benefit plan.\u201d Humana has more than 67,000 employees but the company wouldn\u2019t disclose how many workers and dependents are in the associate benefit plan.<\/p>\n Cost Plus Drugs and CenterWell hope to lure other employers to their employee prescription benefit model. <\/p>\n At a time when health insurance costs are rising and seeing record spikes thanks to a flood of new and popular drugs like GLP-1 prescriptions for obesity<\/a>, Cuban and Humana\u2019s CenterWell pharmacy business see an opportunity. Meanwhile, the traditional managers of drug benefits like pharmacy benefit management companies are under fire for a lack of transparency in how they make money with many of them eliminating controversial rebates they are paid by drug makers or working to scale them back to give their clients a bigger discount on prescription drugs.<\/p>\n Executives at Cost Plus Drugs and Humana\u2019s CenterWell hope to simplify drug benefits.<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s announcements reflect an aligned mission to redesign access and affordability in a simplified approach, to help patients get the medications they need,\u201d Bethanie Stein, Humana\u2019s president of pharmacy said Monday. \u201cCenterWell\u2019s value as a distribution partner lies in our capacity, infrastructure, and proven quality measures, all of which drive a better experience for our patients. That\u2019s important as we focus on greater medication adherence and patient health outcomes across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Simplicity, transparency and reducing hurdles are key parts to why Humana executives including company CEO Jim Rechtin have said they began working on a partnership with Cost Plus Drugs in a unique arrangement between an established provider of health benefits to millions of Americans and a smaller disrupter co-funded by Cuban.<\/p>\n