#copayment

[biglisbonnews]

Eli Lilly's insulin copay cap doesn't replace the need for government regulation A few months after congress failed to pass an insulin copay cap of $35 for all insured patients, and a few weeks after President Joe Biden once again raised the issue in his State of the Union address, the US’s largest insulin maker Ely Lilly announced Wednesday a series of price cuts for insulin and the copay.Read more... https://qz.com/eli-lillys-insulin-copay-cap-doesnt-replace-the-need-fo-1850173742

[worldfinancesystemma1]

World Finance System

Website: worldfinancesystem.blogspot.com

Address: 4516 Tenmile Road Needham, MA 02192

Phone: 720-474-9464

Lucy Matoke - HealthMarkets Insurance is located in Fort Worth TX and is dedicated to providing quality services of High Deductible Health Plan Fort Worth TX ,Health Savings Account Fort Worth TX ,Medicare Insurance Fort Worth TX ,Medicaid Insurance Services Fort Worth TX ,Premium Insurance Fort Worth TX ,Copayment Insurance Fort Worth TX . Call us today at (817) 724-7350. We can help! We look forward to hearing from you.

Business Email: info@coonchickenma.com

[aislingbast]

Understanding Health Insurance Deductibles, Copayments, and Coinsurance

Navigating the world of health insurance in PA can be complex, especially when faced with terms like deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance. Understanding these concepts is crucial for making informed decisions about your healthcare expenses. Here's a breakdown of health insurance deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance in simpler terms:

Deductibles: A deductible is the amount you must pay out of pocket for covered health services before your insurance plan starts sharing the costs. For example, if your plan has a $1,000 deductible, you will need to pay the first $1,000 of your covered healthcare expenses before your insurance begins to contribute. High-deductible plans often have lower monthly premiums, making them more affordable for individuals who don't anticipate frequent medical expenses.

Copayments:

A copayment, or copay, is a fixed amount you pay for a covered healthcare service, usually due at the time of the service. Copayments are common for services like doctor visits, prescription medications, or specialist consultations. For instance, you might have a $20 copayment for each visit to a primary care physician and a different copayment for specialist visits.

Coinsurance: Coinsurance is the percentage of costs for a covered healthcare service that you are responsible for after paying your deductible. While a deductible is a fixed amount, coinsurance represents a share of the total cost of a service. For example, if your plan has 20% coinsurance for a particular medical procedure, and the total cost is $1,000, you would pay $200 (20% of $1,000), and the insurance would cover the remaining $800.

How Deductibles, Copayments, and Coinsurance Work Together:

After meeting your deductible, your insurance plan typically covers a percentage of your healthcare costs, while you are responsible for the remaining percentage, known as coinsurance. Copayments may still apply even after the deductible is met, depending on the specific terms of your insurance plan. Some plans have an out-of-pocket maximum, which is the most you have to pay for covered services in a plan year. Once you reach this limit, the insurance company covers all additional costs.

Tips for Managing Health Insurance Costs:

Consider Your Health Needs: If you anticipate regular medical expenses, a plan with higher premiums and lower out-of-pocket costs may be more cost-effective. 

Understand Network Coverage: Confirm that your preferred healthcare providers are in-network to maximize cost savings.

Review Prescription Drug Coverage: Check how your plan covers prescription medications, including copayments or coinsurance.

Explore Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) or Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs): These accounts can help you save money for qualified medical expenses, often with tax advantages.

Regularly Review Your Plan: Healthcare needs may change, so periodically assess whether your current insurance plan still meets your requirements.

In conclusion, health insurance involves a combination of deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance that collectively determine your out-of-pocket expenses. Understanding these terms empowers individuals to make informed choices when selecting insurance plans and effectively manage their healthcare costs.

[imedicalbilling]

"Streamlined Processes and Improved Efficiency: Why DRG is the Choice for Benefit Breakdown and Eligibility Verification"

DRG (Diagnosis-Related Group) systems offer streamlined processes and improved efficiency for benefit breakdown and eligibility verification in healthcare. With DRG, healthcare providers can navigate complex insurance processes with ease, ensuring accurate benefit breakdowns and efficient eligibility verification. The use of DRG simplifies administrative tasks, reduces delays, and enhances communication between providers, patients, and insurance companies. By choosing DRG, healthcare organizations can streamline their operations, save time, and deliver a smoother and more efficient experience for all stakeholders involved in benefit breakdown and eligibility verification.

[cubot]

Despite taking medicine, my head still hurts. I gotta wake up in a little over six hours, so I guess I'll give up the fun because at this point it's not worth it. I hope I'll be okay by the weekend. I took Monday off, so maybe I'll go do something fun, like go to a museum or something.

My head did not hurt when I woke up, but got worse over the day. I should probably go to bed, but I'm having fun. I'll have some caffeine and pain killers and hope they make love in my body and the emotions kill my headache in a pink powerful beam of sparkles and hearts.

[impact801]

Universal Health Care in New York

Currently NY State Senate is trying to pass the New York Health Act, which would provide all New York Residents and those who work full time to a single payer health care system. No deductibles, no copayments, and no premiums. This bill has passed the assembly before but failed in the senate in the past, but now more than ever it's clear that most Americans support universal health care. Click the link above and vote Aye for this bill and write message to Sen Gustavo Rivera to get this bill out of committee and on the state senate floor.

Plz reblog and share even if you don't live in NY, laws at the state level working could lead to this being in other states, and eventually at the federal level in the future.

For more info:

The Full Bill

Update on NY Health Act

[quasieli]

Help me stay afloat while looking for work!

Hi folks! It sucks to be asking this, but I really could use some help with paying some bills while I struggle to look for a job. I've been looking for work for months, but my options are quite limited in the new area I'm living in, but I have weekly medical bills to pay for therapy if I wanna stay sane through all of this. All I need is a bit of help with copayments, which aren't that high, but I hit the red, so I don't even have that.

I'm trying to get commissions set up to try and make a bit of extra cash on the side, but I've been really stressed out about this whole situation, making it really hard to focus on getting that done. If you could spare even a few bucks, I'd be so grateful. I'll even offer out some sketches and such if you want something while I'm still figuring out my proper commission stuff. Thank you so much to the folks who have already helped out, I'm forever grateful to y'all 💙💙

Venmo: EH1220

Ko-Fi: Link

Paypal: Link

[honey-beann]

Home (you)

rk brothers (Nines, Connor, Sixty) x Reader

Chapter III - Taking Root

Warnings:

Mentions of death

General angst

Mentions of injury (stabbing)

Pending final edits (sorry for any errors!)

Word count: 2,194

Series masterlist

"Sir, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to accept your insurance card."

"We are literally identical in almost every conceivable way. If you didn't know that he was passed out in the other room right now you would think we were the same person, so just run the damn insurance."

Nines insisted, annoyance evident in his tone as he tried for the fourth time to convince the old receptionist to use his insurance for Sixty's hospital visit.

"Sir, will you please stop trying to commit insurance fraud?"

The woman asked, thoroughly exasperated with the man standing in front of her.

Nines opened his mouth to argue, but Connor spoke up from behind him, sounding almost as tired as the lady who had been forced to deal with his brother for the past twenty minutes.

"Nines, Trouble has his insurance card in her wallet. If the cost is so high that Sixty cannot pay it, I have no doubt that she will have them run the information. Now will you please sit down before you get us all kicked out of the hospital?"

Nines scoffed but did as his brother asked, glaring as he made his way back over to where you sat beside Connor, your six month old held firmly to your chest by his wrap carrier as your five year old slept soundly on his uncle's lap, drooling slightly against his t shirt while Connor continuously rubbed lightly at his back the very same way he had done when he was just a baby.

"If she runs that insurance, she'll have to deal with whatever copayments they ask for, as if it isn't already ridiculous enough that she pays for his insurance out of her own pocket."

Nines muttered to his brother as he sat down beside you, causing Connor to sigh and shake his head,

"She uses the money that Hank left her and you know that, if she were paying for it herself I would have long since put a stop to that."

Nines scoffed,

"The money that Hank left her is supposed to be her money, Connor, not another way for her to keep supporting Sixty's bad habits."

Connor opened his mouth to reply, but you cut him off, more than a little fed up with being talked about as if you weren't there at all.

"Would you two just leave things be? We've only been here for twenty-five minutes and I have a feeling it's going to be a long morning, so I really don't think we should start it off by arguing."

Nines sighed audibly from where he sat beside you, clearly still unhappy with the insurance situation, but Connor simply gave you an apologetic half-smile before he nodded in agreement and changed the subject entirely.

"You know Nines, I didn't realize you were back from your trip already. I thought you were scheduled to be away for another six weeks."

Nines let out a low hum of acknowledgement before he finally spoke, keeping his explanation brief and vague, as per usual when it came to his job.

"I finished early. They gave me the wide time frame assuming I would need longer than I actually did."

Connor nodded, but pressed a bit harder regarding the stipulations of his brother's job.

"Well I'm glad it didn't take as long as projected. Though, I am surprised that they sent you out on a trip they believed would take two entire months to complete. Weren't you placed on a short distance travel list after Finley was born?"

Nines stiffened a bit from where he sat beside you, and you raised a brow at him in response to Connor's words.

"What?"

You asked, hearing Connor let out a quiet "Oh" from your right as he fixed his gaze downward.

"I didn't realize that you hadn't told-."

"I inferred, Connor."

Nines snapped back quietly, causing his older sibling to sigh before he returned his focus to the child on his lap, clearly wishing he were literally anywhere else.

You turned toward Nines,

"You messed with some of your work contracts for me?"

Disbelief and shock were evident in every word you spoke as you tried to make sense of what Connor had said.

Nines was an FBI agent, that much you knew, and because of that he had strict contracts that he resigned every year stipulating where he could go, what he could do, what his pay would be, and what would happen if he were to not come back from a mission.

You knew that because every year he had to call you asking if you were okay with being put down beside Connor as his next of kin, meaning you would be notified if and when something happened to him...

And every year you had to verbally confirm that yes, you were alright with that, no matter how much the idea of ever actually receiving that dreaded call from his superiors terrified you.

But you also knew that the distance that Nines had once been willing to travel greatly bolstered his pay check. When he had been gone for the duration of your pregnancy with Finley, he had made enough money to buy his expensive car in cash and then attempt to fund both of your sons' college accounts.

So why the hell would he change his distance contract for you?

Nines sighed,

"I was unhappy with the circumstances that I had to work with while you were pregnant with Finley. Being unable to support you throughout the process while being forced to get updates through letters addressed to random P.O. boxes is an experience I would rather not repeat, so I told them not to send me so far away that I might be gone for more than a certain amount of time-"

"How much time?"

You asked, voice shaking as you attempted to keep yourself calm. Time and time again you had begged this man not to sacrifice anything else for you and your family, and time and time again he'd ignored you in favor of putting himself last for the one millionth time.

Nines sighed.

"I asked them to not send me away for longer than six weeks at most unless absolutely necessary."

He looked down at you, his voice stern and his expression serious as he spoke,

"And I will not be asking them to change that anytime soon."

You groaned, tossing your hands up in the air exasperatedly while being careful not to jostle the baby who was still sleeping soundly against your chest.

"You are impossible."

You muttered, hearing Nines chuckle a bit as he looked down at you in amusement,

"Only when it comes to your profoundly foolish requests for me to stop taking care of you."

You opened your mouth to protest the idea that he had any responsibility to do such a thing at all, but then the doors to the emergency center opened, and out stepped a doctor who called a familiar name into the empty waiting room, which remained devoid of all life save for your small and atypical family.

"Is anyone here for Caiden Anderson?"

He asked, causing all three of you to stand immediately, though Connor took a moment longer than you and Nines did as he adjusted Atlas properly in order to do so.

The doctor regarded the three of you with a nod, not bothering to ask the relationship that Connor and Nines had to Sixty and moving straight on to you and your boys.

"What is your relationship to the patient?"

He asked, and grimacing, you spoke the same lines you had already said so many times since long before you and Sixty had even started dating. He was an accident prone man, and you and the boys had needed a way to make sure you could get inside of hospitals to see him without issue.

"His fiancee."

You said, hoping that the doctor took your nervous body language as worry rather than the discomfort it truly was.

Because as many times as you had said those words, both truthfully and untruthfully, you didn't think it would ever stop hurting to say them now.

The doctor nodded, gesturing toward your children,

"And the kids?"

"Our sons."

You said, tone a bit more confident this time, and despite how displeased he looked to be bringing so many visitors into one room, the doctor motioned for all five of you to follow him into the room they were monitoring Sixty in.

Walking into the space though, you struggled not to wince at the sight of him, taking note of how pale and sickly he looked bathed in the white hospital lighting, his veins obvious beneath his skin, as if he were made of glass.

You shuddered slightly, staring at him for a moment until Connor, who had just set your son down in one of three available chairs, gently took your hands and guided you toward another, offering you a kind and encouraging smile as he and his brother stood behind you in spite of the fact that there was still one other available chair.

They preferred to stand anyhow.

Sixty had always been the one to sit with you.

The doctor sighed as he fully entered the room behind the five of you, closing the door and taking a look at the tablet within his hand to ensure he was looking at the right patient's chart before he spoke.

"So, it appears that Mr. Anderson managed to pop the stitches and re-injure the stab wound he came in for the other day."

He said seriously, and immediately your eyes grew wide and your hands felt clammy.

Stabbed?

Sixty, your Sixty, the too beautiful jokester with the too pretty smile had been stabbed?

You swallowed thickly, trying to stop your eyes from growing teary at the thought as you continued to listen to what the doctor had to say.

"So, the good news is that he hasn't sustained any new injuries, and that this was likely just an issue of him doing too much too soon. The bad news is that the area already seems to be infected, and while we are trying to treat that to the best of our ability, he will likely require at home bed rest for several weeks afterward. As you likely know, this is far from his first run in with infections, and at this point treatment is starting to become a lot less effective than we would like."

You felt your hands shake as you nodded numbly, wishing so hard that you could shake the sleeping man on the other side of the room awake and scream at him until he told you why he was doing this to himself, why he was doing this to you.

He had been a sickly kid, all four of you knew that, and in taking all of these risks with his health he was bringing himself closer and closer to an early death than you hoped he realized.

"To be clear,"

The doctor began solemnly, looking you in the eyes as he removed his glasses,

"If Caiden does not become more serious about his health soon, there may very well come a day when he is brought in here and there will be nothing that we can do but make him comfortable."

You blanched, watching as the doctor sighed,

"Look Ma'am, if I may be so frank, I have no idea what is going on with your fiancee. Hell, I don't even know if you two are actually engaged. But what I will say is that looking at his chart, he is playing a dangerous game. You can't do the type of drugs he's done and live the kind of life he's leading and expect to make it very far. And I think you're fully aware of that."

You nodded again, avoiding eye contact with the man as you did so,

"I am, of course I am."

"Then for your own sake, either get him to stop doing whatever the hell it is that he's been doing, or let him go. I don't like saying this, and I wish that things were different, but in the end if he won't take care of himself, and you can't make him, this can only hurt you and your children."

He sighed heavily, as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders, and then he stood, his expression still solemn and his eyes sympathetic.

"He should be waking up soon. When he does a nurse will come to inform him of his condition. Whether you stay or go is entirely up to you, just don't disturb any of the other patients please."

And with that he was gone, the door swinging shut behind him as the room filled with a tense kind of silence that you knew all too well.

"Did you guys know?"

You asked quietly, already aware of what the answer to that question was deep down.

"Did you know that he was letting this happen to himself?"

Their responding silence was deafening.

It was all that you needed to hear.

masterlist

AO3

[stuckinthesun]

Domestic Leon thoughts

Thinking about Leon coming home from a mission and after you welcome him back you mention how you have a doctors appointment for [ insert reason why you would have a doctors appointment here ] and he’s like

“Oh do you want me to go with you?”

You tell him no cuz he just got back and he shouldn’t spend his first day off sitting in a doctors office but he insists saying he rarely gets to do basic boyfriend things because of his shitty schedule

So he goes, he pays the copayment even though you argued against it, you jokes with you in the waiting room annoying the other waiting patients. Once you’re in the back he’s asking a million questions, making sure you’re okay and you should be annoyed but instead you’re just smiling because you can really tell that he cares

Once you’re done, it doesn’t matter what time the appointment was, he takes you out to eat, because waiting at the doctors feels like an eternity no matter what

I’m at the doctors and I’m having thoughts lol

[life-and-health-insurance]

Copayment, Deductibles & Room Rent Limit – Explained In Details

Do you know that Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE) in total Health Expenditure (THE) in India is 47.1% for 2019-20?

It means that we’re still relying on spending our savings on medical expenses. Instead of getting health cover to support our finances. 

But, if you have health insurance from a reputable company, it’s important to understand certain clauses to avoid out-of-pocket expenses.. 

In this article – we will uncover the hidden facts about:

What is Copayment?

How does Copayment work with health insurance?

What is Deductible?

How deductible works with health insurance?

What is Room Rent Limit / Capping?

Why should you avoid the Room Rent Limit in Health Insurance?

Read the blog to know more

[biglisbonnews]

Biden's plan is not going to lower the price of insulin Joe Biden is right: The cost of insulin in the US is astronomical—and completely unjustified. Read more... https://qz.com/bidens-price-cap-wont-lower-the-cost-of-insulin-1850088967

[anderswasrightt]

here's a condensed version of my unfortunate situation post, minus the memes that were taking up space:

in addition to these bills, i have about $500 of pending copayments that are waiting to go through insurance and could hit at any time. my flex spending card is empty until january, and if i don't pay these copays, i will not be allowed to schedule appointments with my therapist, drug counselor, or psychiatrist.

if you wanna help me out, my info is below:

vmo: wilcamel

ppal: wpcftm

c-app: DM me

thanks to anyone who can donate or reblog. i feel bad asking so soon after my last post, but life seems to enjoy kicking me in the sack lately.

[thingstrumperssay]

Trump is now claiming that he did things that Biden did, (or tried to do?) like capping insulin to $35.

He doesn't have anything besides racism and queerphobia so he now has to take credit for other's achievements.

Don't forget- Trump wants to get rid of your health care and social security. He would never fucking do this.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Philadelphia Tribune

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

September 29, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Sep 30, 2024

Late Friday night, Tennessee House Republican Caucus chair Jeremy Faison posted “President Biden has finally approved [Tennessee governor Bill Lee’s] state of emergency request,” making it sound as if the delay in federal support for the state during the devastation of Hurricane Helene was Biden’s fault. In fact, while Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina all declared emergencies and requested and received federal approval of those declarations before the hurricane hit, Governor Lee did not. 

Instead, in keeping with an April joint resolution from the Republican-dominated Tennessee legislature calling for 31 days of prayer and fasting to “seek God’s hand of mercy healing on Tennessee,” Lee proclaimed September 27 “a voluntary Day of Prayer & Fasting.”

Lee did not declare a state of emergency until late on September 27, after flash flooding had already created havoc. President Biden approved it immediately.  

The extraordinary damage from Helene in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia continues to mount. At least 91 people have died, and search and rescue teams are at work across several states. More than 2 million people are without power, and western North Carolina is isolated after its roads washed out. A fire at a chemical facility in Conyers, Georgia, outside Atlanta forced the evacuation of 17,000 people nearby. The National Weather Service office in Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, wrote to the residents of the western Carolinas and northeast Georgia: “This is the worst event in our office’s history.”  

Faison’s implication that Democratic president Biden, rather than Republican governor Lee, was to blame for the slow federal response to Helene in Tennessee illustrated the Republicans’ attempt to create a fake world to motivate their base with fear and anger while leaving Democrats to come up with real world solutions. And since those solutions are popular, Republicans are claiming credit for them. 

In the past two days, Republican lawmakers who just days ago voted against funding the federal government and who have railed against government spending have been out front claiming credit for getting federal disaster relief.  

Republican presidential nominee Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee Ohio senator J.D. Vance have been claiming that it was Trump who capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month. Vance has accused Vice President Kamala Harris of lying when the Biden administration takes credit for it. Vance’s statement, itself, is a breathtaking lie. Trump signed an executive order in July 2020 establishing a temporary, voluntary program that let some Medicare Part D prescription drug plans cap monthly insulin copayments at $35. The program ran from January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2023. 

The Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law in August 2022, required all Part D plans to charge no more than $35 a month for all covered insulin products. All Democrats in the House and the Senate voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, and all Republicans—including J.D. Vance—voted against it. 

As Republicans have lost the support of suburban women for their attacks on reproductive rights and embrace of the misogyny of the MAGA movement, they have tried to beef up the idea that they are the country’s true supporters of women and families. Trump, who has been found liable for sexual assault, has been trying to assure women: “I want to be your protector. As president, I have to be your protector.” With him back in office, he said at a rally in Pennsylvania, women “will be happy, healthy, confident and free. You will no longer be thinking about abortion.”

Journalist Jessica Valenti noted that antiabortion activists are running advertisements blaming the deaths of women in states with abortion bans not on those bans or those who passed them, but on the Democrats trying to protect reproductive healthcare. Women have died when doctors would not give them lifesaving care out of concerns about prosecution under states’ abortion bans or were unable to access abortion care. But the ads, using the names and images of women who have died under antiabortion regimes, claim that lifesaving care is still legal but doctors don’t know they can use it because of misinformation from pro-choice activists.

Antiabortion Republican Derrick Anderson, who is running to represent Virginia’s seventh congressional district, has appeared in campaign photographs with a woman and children posed as if they are his family, but they are not. He is unmarried and childless, and the family is that of a friend. 

That last one is really weird, but the biggest lies from the Republicans concern immigration, especially as voters blame the Republicans for killing a strong bipartisan border bill earlier this year after Trump demanded they keep the issue open for him to campaign on. J.D. Vance was among those who voted against it. 

There were the lies Vance spread about Springfield, Ohio, of course, attacking the legal Haitian immigrants there who have been credited with revitalizing the city. On Friday and Saturday, Trump lied that Vice President Harris had let 13,000 or 14,000 convicted murderers enter the U.S. in the past three years, who “freely and openly roam our country,” a lie that Elon Musk called “true.” 

In fact, as CNN’s Daniel Dale pointed out, it is a lie. The Department of Homeland Security clarified that the data to which Trump appeared to refer lists individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years—including during his own term—committed crimes in the U.S. rather than their country of origin, and either are currently incarcerated or have served their sentences but can’t be deported because their country of origin won’t accept them. Such individuals are monitored. 

On Saturday, Julia Terruso of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a woman in a Philadelphia suburb received a letter that looked like an official document from the fake “Pennsylvania Congressional Office of Immigration Affairs” telling her that she was expected to provide living space to five migrants under a program “written into Law by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.” 

As Terruso wrote, “No office exists, nor does such a government-mandated housing program, but the letter, doctored to look like an official government document, provided specific details designed to mislead someone less attuned to a scam—and laid the blame for the fake program at the feet of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris during a heated and close election in which immigration has increasingly become a focal point.”

Lies establish dominance over people being lied to, because lies take away a person’s right to make good decisions about their own life. So what’s the purpose of the Republican lies? 

Former president Trump is the Republican presidential nominee, but his recent attacks on special counsel Jack Smith and his attempts to sell watches for up to $100,000 apiece suggest he is interested mostly in avoiding prosecution and gathering donations. At his recent events he is slurring his words, unable to answer questions, and seems consumed with anger and a desire for revenge against those he sees as his enemies. He has recently referred to Harris as “mentally disabled,” and today in Erie, Pennsylvania, he said that crime would end “if you had one really violent day…. One rough hour. And I mean real rough. The word will get out and it will end immediately.”  

He has, though, focused on painting a picture of the U.S. as a hellscape overrun with undocumented criminal immigrants. Journalist Aaron Rupar of Public Notice, who clips Trump’s speeches on social media, compared yesterday’s rally in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, to the “Two Minutes Hate” against political enemies in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Trump’s attacks on immigrants were so extreme even he admitted “this is a dark speech.” 

Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance is also doubling down on anti-immigrant attacks. In that, they are echoing the language Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán used to get voters to support him out of fear of immigrants. Then Orbán took control of Hungary, undermined its democracy, and set himself up as a dictator.  

Once in charge, Orbán insisted that democracy was obsolete. The democratic principle that the law must treat everyone equally and give them a say in their government, he said, weakens a nation by treating women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and racial, ethnic, and religious minorities as equal to white, heterosexual men. Immigration weakens a nation by diluting its purity. He set out to establish what he called “illiberal democracy” or “Christian democracy,” enforcing religious rules and laws that reestablish patriarchy.   

Project 2025 was backed by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, which has ties to Orbán’s Danube Institute, and to the extent he talks about policies, Trump echoes that game plan. He has promised, for example, that he would replace civil servants with loyalists and today again vowed to get rid of the Department of Education, both key items in Project 2025.

Vance has gone further, attacking secular American society itself. In 2021 he said in an interview that American “conservatives…have lost every major powerful institution in the country, except for maybe churches and religious institutions, which of course are weaker now than they’ve ever been. We’ve lost big business. We’ve lost finance. We’ve lost the culture. We’ve lost the academy. And if we’re going to actually really affect real change in the country, it will require us completely replacing the existing ruling class with another ruling class…. I don’t think there’s sort of a compromise that we’re going to come with the people who currently actually control the country. Unless we overthrow them in some way, we’re going to keep losing.” “We really need to be really ruthless when it comes to the exercise of power,” he said. 

On Saturday, Vance spoke at an event hosted by right-wing extremist evangelical leader Lance Wallnau, a member of the New Apostolic Reformation movement that seeks to end the separation of church and state and put the United States under religious rule. At the event, Vance claimed that “American children… can’t add five plus five, but they can tell you that there are 87 different genders.” He claimed that schools are teaching children “radical ideas” rather than “reading, writing, arithmetic.” He called it “creeping socialism in our schools,” and called for cutting funding for public education. 

The White House today said that more than 3,300 federal personnel are deployed in the states impacted by Hurricane Helene and that at least 50,000 people from 31 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada are working to restore power. FEMA has moved in food and is working to restore cell coverage; federal search and rescue teams are on the ground; the U.S. Coast Guard is working to reopen damaged ports; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is assessing damage and moving debris; the Environmental Protection Agency is working on water systems; the Small Business Administration has 50 people on the ground to support small businesses; the U.S. Department of Energy is monitoring power, fuel, and supply chains; the Department of Agriculture is extending credit to farmers who lost crops and livestock.  

At a campaign event in Las Vegas tonight, Vice President Harris said “we will stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild.”

Wallnau has accused Harris of practicing witchcraft. 

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[misfitwashere]

September 29, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

SEP 30

Late Friday night, Tennessee House Republican Caucus chair Jeremy Faison posted “President Biden has finally approved [Tennessee governor Bill Lee’s] state of emergency request,” making it sound as if the delay in federal support for the state during the devastation of Hurricane Helene was Biden’s fault. In fact, while Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina all declared emergencies and requested and received federal approval of those declarations before the hurricane hit, Governor Lee did not. 

Instead, in keeping with an April joint resolution from the Republican-dominated Tennessee legislature calling for 31 days of prayer and fasting to “seek God’s hand of mercy healing on Tennessee,” Lee proclaimed September 27 “a voluntary Day of Prayer & Fasting.”

Lee did not declare a state of emergency until late on September 27, after flash flooding had already created havoc. President Biden approved it immediately.  

The extraordinary damage from Helene in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia continues to mount. At least 91 people have died, and search and rescue teams are at work across several states. More than 2 million people are without power, and western North Carolina is isolated after its roads washed out. A fire at a chemical facility in Conyers, Georgia, outside Atlanta forced the evacuation of 17,000 people nearby. The National Weather Service office in Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, wrote to the residents of the western Carolinas and northeast Georgia: “This is the worst event in our office’s history.”  

Faison’s implication that Democratic president Biden, rather than Republican governor Lee, was to blame for the slow federal response to Helene in Tennessee illustrated the Republicans’ attempt to create a fake world to motivate their base with fear and anger while leaving Democrats to come up with real world solutions. And since those solutions are popular, Republicans are claiming credit for them. 

In the past two days, Republican lawmakers who just days ago voted against funding the federal government and who have railed against government spending have been out front claiming credit for getting federal disaster relief.  

Republican presidential nominee Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee Ohio senator J.D. Vance have been claiming that it was Trump who capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month. Vance has accused Vice President Kamala Harris of lying when the Biden administration takes credit for it. Vance’s statement, itself, is a breathtaking lie. Trump signed an executive order in July 2020 establishing a temporary, voluntary program that let some Medicare Part D prescription drug plans cap monthly insulin copayments at $35. The program ran from January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2023. 

The Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law in August 2022, required all Part D plans to charge no more than $35 a month for all covered insulin products. All Democrats in the House and the Senate voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, and all Republicans—including J.D. Vance—voted against it. 

As Republicans have lost the support of suburban women for their attacks on reproductive rights and embrace of the misogyny of the MAGA movement, they have tried to beef up the idea that they are the country’s true supporters of women and families. Trump, who has been found liable for sexual assault, has been trying to assure women: “I want to be your protector. As president, I have to be your protector.” With him back in office, he said at a rally in Pennsylvania, women “will be happy, healthy, confident and free. You will no longer be thinking about abortion.”

Journalist Jessica Valenti noted that antiabortion activists are running advertisements blaming the deaths of women in states with abortion bans not on those bans or those who passed them, but on the Democrats trying to protect reproductive healthcare. Women have died when doctors would not give them lifesaving care out of concerns about prosecution under states’ abortion bans or were unable to access abortion care. But the ads, using the names and images of women who have died under antiabortion regimes, claim that lifesaving care is still legal but doctors don’t know they can use it because of misinformation from pro-choice activists.

Antiabortion Republican Derrick Anderson, who is running to represent Virginia’s seventh congressional district, has appeared in campaign photographs with a woman and children posed as if they are his family, but they are not. He is unmarried and childless, and the family is that of a friend. 

That last one is really weird, but the biggest lies from the Republicans concern immigration, especially as voters blame the Republicans for killing a strong bipartisan border bill earlier this year after Trump demanded they keep the issue open for him to campaign on. J.D. Vance was among those who voted against it. 

There were the lies Vance spread about Springfield, Ohio, of course, attacking the legal Haitian immigrants there who have been credited with revitalizing the city. On Friday and Saturday, Trump lied that Vice President Harris had let 13,000 or 14,000 convicted murderers enter the U.S. in the past three years, who “freely and openly roam our country,” a lie that Elon Musk called “true.” 

In fact, as CNN’s Daniel Dale pointed out, it is a lie. The Department of Homeland Security clarified that the data to which Trump appeared to refer lists individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years—including during his own term—committed crimes in the U.S. rather than their country of origin, and either are currently incarcerated or have served their sentences but can’t be deported because their country of origin won’t accept them. Such individuals are monitored. 

On Saturday, Julia Terruso of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a woman in a Philadelphia suburb received a letter that looked like an official document from the fake “Pennsylvania Congressional Office of Immigration Affairs” telling her that she was expected to provide living space to five migrants under a program “written into Law by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.” 

As Terruso wrote, “No office exists, nor does such a government-mandated housing program, but the letter, doctored to look like an official government document, provided specific details designed to mislead someone less attuned to a scam—and laid the blame for the fake program at the feet of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris during a heated and close election in which immigration has increasingly become a focal point.”

Lies establish dominance over people being lied to, because lies take away a person’s right to make good decisions about their own life. So what’s the purpose of the Republican lies? 

Former president Trump is the Republican presidential nominee, but his recent attacks on special counsel Jack Smith and his attempts to sell watches for up to $100,000 apiece suggest he is interested mostly in avoiding prosecution and gathering donations. At his recent events he is slurring his words, unable to answer questions, and seems consumed with anger and a desire for revenge against those he sees as his enemies. He has recently referred to Harris as “mentally disabled,” and today in Erie, Pennsylvania, he said that crime would end “if you had one really violent day…. One rough hour. And I mean real rough. The word will get out and it will end immediately.”  

He has, though, focused on painting a picture of the U.S. as a hellscape overrun with undocumented criminal immigrants. Journalist Aaron Rupar of Public Notice, who clips Trump’s speeches on social media, compared yesterday’s rally in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, to the “Two Minutes Hate” against political enemies in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Trump’s attacks on immigrants were so extreme even he admitted “this is a dark speech.” 

Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance is also doubling down on anti-immigrant attacks. In that, they are echoing the language Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán used to get voters to support him out of fear of immigrants. Then Orbán took control of Hungary, undermined its democracy, and set himself up as a dictator.  

Once in charge, Orbán insisted that democracy was obsolete. The democratic principle that the law must treat everyone equally and give them a say in their government, he said, weakens a nation by treating women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and racial, ethnic, and religious minorities as equal to white, heterosexual men. Immigration weakens a nation by diluting its purity. He set out to establish what he called “illiberal democracy” or “Christian democracy,” enforcing religious rules and laws that reestablish patriarchy.   

Project 2025 was backed by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, which has ties to Orbán’s Danube Institute, and to the extent he talks about policies, Trump echoes that game plan. He has promised, for example, that he would replace civil servants with loyalists and today again vowed to get rid of the Department of Education, both key items in Project 2025.

Vance has gone further, attacking secular American society itself. In 2021 he said in an interview that American “conservatives…have lost every major powerful institution in the country, except for maybe churches and religious institutions, which of course are weaker now than they’ve ever been. We’ve lost big business. We’ve lost finance. We’ve lost the culture. We’ve lost the academy. And if we’re going to actually really affect real change in the country, it will require us completely replacing the existing ruling class with another ruling class…. I don’t think there’s sort of a compromise that we’re going to come with the people who currently actually control the country. Unless we overthrow them in some way, we’re going to keep losing.” “We really need to be really ruthless when it comes to the exercise of power,” he said. 

On Saturday, Vance spoke at an event hosted by right-wing extremist evangelical leader Lance Wallnau, a member of the New Apostolic Reformation movement that seeks to end the separation of church and state and put the United States under religious rule. At the event, Vance claimed that “American children… can’t add five plus five, but they can tell you that there are 87 different genders.” He claimed that schools are teaching children “radical ideas” rather than “reading, writing, arithmetic.” He called it “creeping socialism in our schools,” and called for cutting funding for public education. 

The White House today said that more than 3,300 federal personnel are deployed in the states impacted by Hurricane Helene and that at least 50,000 people from 31 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada are working to restore power. FEMA has moved in food and is working to restore cell coverage; federal search and rescue teams are on the ground; the U.S. Coast Guard is working to reopen damaged ports; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is assessing damage and moving debris; the Environmental Protection Agency is working on water systems; the Small Business Administration has 50 people on the ground to support small businesses; the U.S. Department of Energy is monitoring power, fuel, and supply chains; the Department of Agriculture is extending credit to farmers who lost crops and livestock.  

At a campaign event in Las Vegas tonight, Vice President Harris said “we will stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild.”

Wallnau has accused Harris of practicing witchcraft. 

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