Gov. Mikie Sherrill is taking Mark Cuban up on his offer to help New Jersey rein in the soaring cost of its public employee health benefits program, welcoming the billionaire entrepreneur to “Team Jersey” as her administration searches for ways to overhaul the troubled system.
“Thanks for the offer. I appreciate your innovative work in this space as we bring all ideas to the table,” Sherrill told Cuban. “No more kicking the can down the road in New Jersey. I want accountability and results.”
“We’d love to have you on Team Jersey as we tackle this challenge,” she said. “Let’s talk — we’ll reach out today.”
Cuban, the co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs and former owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, volunteered over the weekend to join the effort after Sherrill created a broad working group to examine the State Health Benefits Program and School Employees’ Health Benefits Program.
“I’ll volunteer to be on the committee that cuts your health benefits cost,” Cuban said on social media. “You need someone from the outside that is objective, and can stand up to the big healthcare conglomerates.”
Sherrill’s response marks a shift from a day earlier, when her office welcomed Cuban’s interest but stopped short of saying whether the governor would accept his offer.
The State Health Benefits Program Reform Working Group, headed by New Jersey Chief Operating Officer Kellie Doucette, is scheduled to hold its first meeting on October 16. The group includes labor unions, health care organizations, insurers, local government groups and representatives of all four partisan legislative offices.
The administration has said it can add participants and outside experts as the review proceeds.
Cuban has advocated for greater transparency in health care pricing and prescription drug costs, including standardized contracts for pharmacy benefit managers, disclosure of pricing, fees and rebates, and restrictions on contractual provisions that prevent employers from seeing how their health care dollars are spent.
State Sen. Declan O’Scanlon (R-Little Silver), a member of Sherrill’s health benefits committee and a longtime critic of the state’s management of public employee health costs, urged Sherrill on Saturday to accept Cuban’s offer.
“If we don’t take Mark Cuban up on his offer, we’re not really serious,” O’Scanlon said.
New Jersey administers public employee health plans covering approximately 690,000 members across state, local government and education plans. Sherrill launched the reform effort after reaching an agreement last month with 17 state employee unions that shields state workers from higher contribution rates in 2027 while beginning a broader review of the system.
The working group is expected to examine vendor contracting, provider networks, prescription drug costs, plan design, premium structures, governance and data transparency, with recommendations to Sherrill and more detailed implementation work continuing into 2027.
Cuban’s participation would add a prominent outsider to an effort that Sherrill has said must produce more than another temporary response to rising premiums.
“I want accountability and results,” the governor said.