“That’s pretty funny,” Cuban said in a November 4th X Post. “He is a genius financial engineer. The split is great for shareholders. Changes nothing for patients or anyone who pays for insurance or care. He is posturing to be able to say, “See, we broke up our company. Don’t fall for it.” Cuban added the hashtags for U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who co-sponsored the Break Up Big Medicine Act (S.3822) in February 2026, to his post.
“We need to pass the bill now more than ever, Cuban added.
Joyner told Jim Cramer on ‘Squawk on the Street’ that the split would “improve affordability and improve coverage” and that CVS was pulling the trigger now, saying, ‘We’re doing it out of a position of strength.’
Some healthcare experts agree with Cuban
According to S&P Global, CVS is the second-largest U.S. health insurer by revenue and the second-largest pharmacy benefit manager through CVS Caremark. On November 4th, CVS reported third-quarter revenues of $108.4 billion, up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. The healthcare titan also projected full-year 2026 revenues at $420 billion.
Healthcare experts agree with Cuban on one point; some corporate splits are more legitimate than others.
“Cuban’s point lands: splitting a conglomerate on paper doesn’t automatically mean more choice or better care for patients,” Kevin Wolfe, founder and CEO of Kindr Health, a telehealth practice focused on women in perimenopause and menopause, told Moneywise.
Wolfe said “patients win” when they can find clinicians who listen, explain evidence-based options plainly, and aren’t stuck waiting on a gatekeeper that also owns the pharmacy, the PBM (pharmacy benefit manager), or the health insurer. “A corporate reorg that leaves those incentives untouched ‘changes nothing’ for the woman trying to get midlife care,” he noted.
By and large, healthcare carve-ups should benefit consumers
Other industry professionals say an anti-consolidation stance is just what the healthcare market needs right now, from an end-user point of view.
“Hospital consolidation has accelerated across the United States over the past two decades, fundamentally reshaping local health care markets,” Shaina Goodman, vice president of policy and government affairs at Atlanta, Georgia-based Community Catalyst, a health policy and systems organization. “Mergers, acquisitions, and the expansion of large health systems have resulted in many regions being served by only one dominant provider organization.”
While some consolidation has been justified as a means to improve efficiency and care coordination, Goodman said that “extensive evidence” suggests that excessive market concentration often leads to higher prices, reduced competition, service reductions, reduced bargaining power for employers and purchasers, and diminished consumer choice, with limited improvements in quality. “The impact of hospital consolidation has been disproportionately felt by rural and underserved communities, who have seen high rates of closure or downsizing of essential services,” Goodman noted.
Regulatory oversight will be a must going forward for Big Healthcare
Congress and state legislatures will likely need to tackle the consolidation and problematic ownership structures that drive healthcare costs up without improving access or quality. “This includes breaking up monopolies and oligopolies, strong oversight and regulation of private equity ownership of healthcare practices and facilities, and putting meaningful limitations on the vertical integration of delivery systems, insurers, and middlemen like PBMs,” Goodman added.
