TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – At Prime 102 in Tyler, owner Steve Barnhart said he has 34 employees. Of those workers, about half receive healthcare coverage.
He said it costs more than $8,000 a year to pay for one employee’s healthcare coverage. Paying that some months, he added, is difficult in an industry known for tight margins.
“Some months it’s a challenge and some months it’s not,” Barnhart said. “Restaurant businesses ebb and flow up and down, so some months it’s easier than others.”
Aiming to reduce costs for folks across the state, a group of Texas House lawmakers met on Tuesday to hear testimony on ways to lower costs.
“Healthcare isn’t broken from a clinical standpoint, but it is absolutely broken from a pricing standpoint,” said state Rep. James Frank (R-Wichita Falls).
Mark Cuban, co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs and former Shark Tank cast member, testified during the over six-hour hearing about what lawmakers can do to lower prices.
“Let patients shop for cheaper drugs,” Cuban said. “If someone’s insurance says a prescription costs $500 but they can buy the exact same drug for $100 cash, let them buy it for $100. Then credit that $100 towards their deductible and out-of-pocket maximum wherever Texas has authority to do so.”
“Patients should be rewarded for saving themselves and their health plan money, they shouldn’t be punished for it,” Cuban continued. “That’s how you create something healthcare desperately needs: price competition.”
Scott Burns, chief executive officer of KerixHealth, proposed a solution involving a direct primary care model.
“In direct primary care patients decide what they value,” Burns said. “They can choose a practice based on access, responsiveness, service, price, and the quality of the relationship with the physician.”
Lawmakers could consider ways to reduce healthcare costs during the next legislative session, which begins in January.
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