Blog
LatestArticlesVideosHands-On History
Radio
LivePodcastSerialsStations
TV
Podcast
Show Prep
Events
Restoring the Covenant
More
AboutBooksCharityReal EstateSponsorsShopContact
SEARCH
Live Radio

©2020 MERCURY RADIO ARTS.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

Live

DONATE: #Bubby Is America's Charlie Gard, Help Him Get the Treatment Charlie Didn't

August 10, 2017
 Staff

WRITER

A couple whose son has the same debilitating condition as Charlie Gard shared their story on radio Tuesday.

Russell Cruzan II and Michelle Budnik-Nap in Kalamazoo, Michigan, had no idea that their baby Russell would be born with mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. In a one-in-a-million coincidence, both parents carry the same gene, and their baby had a very small chance of inheriting the gene from both of them.

“[Russell and Charlie] both have mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome; it’s just different gene mutations causing it,” Budnik-Nap explained.

It first appeared Bubby's treatment would be covered by insurance but the parents had some disheartening news shortly after their interview on Tuesday.

DONATE HERE

"About an hour after our interview with you on Tuesday, we heard from our local hospital. They were the ones that were working on the prior authorization. They had received a denial from... Priority Health, stating that they will not cover the mito specialist in Boston, because she's a geneticist. And he sees a geneticist here. They don't understand that there's a difference between, you know, a mito specialist and a geneticist around here," Michelle said.

"Hold on. Guys, we are talking about $10,000 probably, maximum. This audience should be able to do that in the next ten minutes," Glenn said.

"Could you please go to YouCaring.com and just search for Bubby Cruzan. B-U-B-B-Y C-R-U-Z-A-N. It's #Bubby. Look for Bubby Cruzan. And if you can, $5 -- I mean, the people in this audience, just giving $5 at a time, we should be able to make a difference so this -- this couple can go get just an initial appointment to see if their baby can be helped so we can fight the other battle with -- what's the name of the health care company again?

DONATE HERE

GLENN: I mean, if you thought the country had gone mad a minute ago, wait until we play the audio of some woman who was told on an airplane, "Wow, nice dress." Oh, my gosh. Wait until you hear the rant and what this woman is saying and who this woman is, in just a second.

First, we want to bring you up to speed on a story we covered a couple of days ago. If you remember the parents of Bubby Cruzan -- Russell Cruzan, the baby that was born and has the same disease that Charlie Gard had. We had the parents on.

They're from Wisconsin, I believe. Or Michigan. And they were really happy and bubbly. And we asked them, how are things going? They said great things about their insurance company, which may change. Their insurance company, which was priority health, I believe.

And they said everything was being covered. And now it's not. We got to get this story. Bubby Cruzan's mother Michelle is on the phone. Also, dad Russell is on the phone. How are you guys doing?

RUSSELL: Pretty good, how about you?

MICHELLE: Good.

GLENN: Good. Tell me what happened. Because we were hearing good things about this insurance company two days ago.

MICHELLE: Well, about an hour after our interview with you on Tuesday, we heard from our local hospital. They were the ones that were working on the prior authorization. They had received a denial from -- from Boston -- or, not Boston's -- I'm sorry. Priority Health, stating that they will not cover the mito specialist in Boston, because she's a geneticist. And he sees a geneticist here. They don't understand that there's a difference between, you know, a mito specialist and a geneticist around here.

GLENN: Right. And the geneticist that you have there in Michigan is -- is saying that, no, I'm the wrong kind of specialist.

MICHELLE: Yep. Yep. They're obviously doing everything they can. But they don't really have experience with his condition.

GLENN: So now what are you guys going to do? Are you guys appealing this? What is the name of the insurance company again?

RUSSELL: Priority Health.

MICHELLE: Priority Health. You know, we're working on an appeal right now. And we're also working with Boston Children's Hospital to see if they will allow us to make the appointment right now without insurance approval and, you know, possibly end up having to pay out of pocket. We just want to do everything we can to get little Russell to a doctor that can help him.

GLENN: Well, here again, we are seeing, you know, insurance providers -- in England, it was the state. In America, it is -- I'm sorry. What is the name of the company again?

RUSSELL: Priority Health.

GLENN: Priority Health.

Here we're seeing -- Stu, will you just remind me of that, in case I forget again?

STU: I don't remember the name. What was the name again? I'm sorry.

RUSSELL: Priority Health.

STU: Priority Health. Got it.

GLENN: Priority Health. Here we're seeing a company that decides that they know better than the actual doctors do. That's weird. Because the state over in England were listening to the doctors. Here in a capitalist, free market system, a company like --

PAT: And who was the company?

GLENN: Priority Health. Priority Health.

RUSSELL: Priority Health. Priority Health.

GLENN: They think they know more than the doctors, which is interesting. Boy, that probably should be -- I wonder if they have a website or if they have a Facebook.

Jeffy, could you look up Priority Health. So if they have a Facebook page.

JEFFY: Priority Health.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh, they don't like it -- companies don't like when you start to tweet their name and say things like, "How could you do what the health care system did to Charlie Gard? Are we going to run the clock out on this child too?"

Do they have a Facebook page? Look it up. It's Priority Health. I'm sure you could find it and maybe tweet Priority Health on that and ask them how this is -- how this is good for the family.

You have a YouCaring page. If you search for Bubby. B-U-B-B-Y. YouCaring.com. Can we -- if listeners wanted to help, you know -- you know, give you guys money to be able to pay for it yourself, will the hospital take self-funded people?

MICHELLE: We're working on that right now. We believe that if we had the funds to it, which right now we don't have any idea how much it would cost. But we've heard that -- another person said they had a 25-minute appointment there that cost over $2,000. They put the figure around 2800. But we're hoping if we have the funds, you know, after our travel and everything, that we would be allowed to pay out of pocket.

GLENN: So wait a minute. So you're just trying to get enough money to buy the airline ticket and the first doctor's appointment?

MICHELLE: We're -- we're working on it, yeah. Thankfully, Miracle Flights reached out to us after your show. Thank you so much. And, you know, they might help with that. But we still have lodging costs. Obviously, food for when we're there. Any expenses related to --

GLENN: Okay. Okay. Okay. Hold on.

MICHELLE: Pay for the appointment.

GLENN: Hold on. Guys, we are talking about $10,000 probably, maximum. This audience should be able to do that in the next ten minutes.

Could -- could you please go to YouCaring.com and just search for Bubby Cruzan. B-U-B-B-Y C-R-U-Z-A-N. It's #Bubby. Look for Bubby Cruzan. And if you can, $5 -- I mean, the people in this audience, just giving $5 at a time, we should be able to make a difference so this -- this couple can go get just an initial appointment to see if their baby can be helped so we can fight the other battle with -- what's the name of the health care company again?

RUSSELL: It's Priority Health.

GLENN: Priority Health.

PAT: And it looks like Priority Health is on Facebook. And they also have LinkedIn.

JEFFY: Twitter, @Priority Health. Facebook.

PAT: They're all over the internet.

GLENN: Really?

PAT: Yeah.

RUSSELL: They're one of the largest ones in the company.

GLENN: Huh, and what's their Facebook page?

RUSSELL: They should have like the most money. And they just don't want to cough it up.

STU: I think to get the Facebook page, you just go to Facebook.com and search for "Priority Health."

GLENN: Priority Health. That's how you do it? Facebook.com.

And I know companies, they like to hear on their Facebook page and they like to see on Twitter, they like to see people, you know, point all of the wonderful things that they have done. Now, sometimes, companies don't like it when you point out the heartless things that they might be forgetting to do. But I'm sure they have just forgotten that they -- the business that they all, you know, dreamt about getting into when they were kids and they were on the playground. Some day, I'm going to be an actuary. Some day, I'm going to be an insurance agent for Priority Health. I'm sure they've just forgotten those dreams from the playground and forgotten that they're there to help heal people.

PAT: You would assume by the name, Priority Health, that health is a priority. Wouldn't you?

GLENN: You would. You would.

PAT: You would think that, but...

JEFFY: Hmm. They've got a feedback button on their website too.

GLENN: Do they really? Priority Health has that?

JEFFY: Sends them a secure email.

PAT: That's interesting.

GLENN: Let's say you had $5 and you could go to YouCaring.com and you could help this couple raise money so we don't, as a capitalist, free society, do exactly to these parents what England's health care system did just a few weeks ago. Let's -- let's show the world that that's not the way capitalism works. That that's not the way free people behave. Let's get them into an appointment. And let's say -- if you have time after that, you might go to Facebook and to Twitter and just tweet something to Priority Health in a very nice, reasoned way. Because I'm sure they just need to be remind that health is their priority.

Guys, thank you so much. Michelle, Russell.

RUSSELL: Thank you.

MICHELLE: Thank you, Glenn.

GLENN: We'll check in with you again. God bless.

STU: If you go to @worldofStu, by the way, on Twitter, I tweeted the -- and I'm sure @GlennBeck will have it tweeted as well, the link to the YouCaring page. So make sure you can actually find it. And if you wanted to find any of the social sites, if you search Google for "Priority Health," you will see --

GLENN: Is that the insurance company?

STU: That's the insurance company they were just talking about.

GLENN: Priority Health.

STU: Priority Health is the name of it.

GLENN: The one that they paid to give them -- give their health priority. And then the doctor said, "No, I'm a different kind of DNA specialist. I'm really not a geneticist that can do this kind of work." And so the hospital and the doctor said they should go to this particular specialist. And Priority Health said, "No. That person is good enough for you."

PAT: Hmm.

GLENN: Huh. I wonder how much Priority Health's -- boy, we should look into Priority Health because I bet they're not gouging people's eyes out as well. I bet they would love us to spend a day, several days, a freaking month going over what they do. Maybe I could take -- you know what, if Priority Health doesn't see the error of their ways, I'm going to dedicate Monday as an open phone day. And I will take the phone calls of all of the Priority Health customers that maybe feel their eyes are being gouged out. And we'll take those calls, and we'll let America know how much their health is a priority for Priority Health.

STU: Of course, we should give them the opportunity to do that.

GLENN: I know. I know. So I think they're going to find the error of their ways. I think they're going to be able to say, you know what, that's crazy. Because we misunderstood. It's not the same kind of doctor. And we don't know more than what the experts in the field know. And so we're going to -- we're going to make this a priority.

But in case --

STU: What, health?

GLENN: In case they would like some extra free publicity, I'm going to help them have all of the free publicity that I can possibly provide. And, you know, you always say, don't talk to the -- don't -- I don't want to talk to the salesman. I want to talk to the customers.

So if they're such a great insurance company, which I'm sure they are, they won't have any problem having customers call up and give them a free commercial all freaking Monday.

But I'm sure they're going to wake up.

Vox co-founder Matthew Yglesias: America doesn't do GREAT things by fighting amongst ourselves

This week on the Glenn Beck Podcast, Glenn spoke with Vox co-founder Matthew Yglesias about his new book, "One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger."

Matthew and Glenn agree that, while conservatives and liberals may disagree on a lot, we're not as far apart as some make it seem. If we truly want America to continue doing great things, we must spend less time fighting amongst ourselves.

Watch a clip from the full interview with Matthew Yglesias below:


Find the full podcast on Glenn's YouTube channel or on Blaze Media's podcast network.

Want to listen to more Glenn Beck podcasts?

Subscribe to Glenn Beck's channel on YouTube for FREE access to more of his masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, or subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.

'A convenient boogeyman for misinformation artists': Why is the New York Times defending George Soros?

Image source: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images

On the "Glenn Beck Radio Program" Tuesday, Glenn discussed the details of a recent New York Times article that claims left-wing billionaire financier George Soros "has become a convenient boogeyman for misinformation artists who have falsely claimed that he funds spontaneous Black Lives Matter protests as well as antifa, the decentralized and largely online, far-left activist network that opposes President Trump."

The Times article followed last week's bizarre Fox News segment in which former House Speaker Newt Gingrich appeared to be censored for criticizing Soros (read more here). The article also labeled Glenn a "conspiracy theorist" for his tweet supporting Gingrich.

Watch the video clip below for details:


Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn's masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.

'Color Revolution': The Obama Admin's plan UPEND America—and it's all happening NOW

The former ambassador to Russia under the Obama Administration, Michael McFaul, came up with "7 Pillars of Color Revolution," a list of seven steps needed to incite the type of revolution used to upend Eastern European countries like Ukraine and Georgia in the past two decades. On his TV special this week, Glenn Beck broke down the seven steps and showed how they're happening right now in America.

Here are McFaul's seven steps:

1. Semi-autocratic regime (not fully autocratic) – provides opportunity to call incumbent leader "fascist"

2. Appearance of unpopular president or incumbent leader

3. United and organized opposition – Antifa, BLM

4. Effective system to convince the public (well before the election) of voter fraud

5. Compliant media to push voter fraud narrative

6. Political opposition organization able to mobilize "thousands to millions in the streets"

7. Division among military and police


Glenn explained each "pillar," offering examples and evidence of how the Obama administration laid out the plan for an Eastern European style revolution in order to completely upend the American system.

Last month, McFaul made a obvious attempt to downplay his "color revolutions" plan with the following tweet:

Two weeks later, he appeared to celebrate step seven of his plan in this now-deleted tweet:



As Glenn explains in this clip, the Obama administration's "7 Pillars of Color Revolution" are all playing out – just weeks before President Donald Trump takes on Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the November election.

Watch the video clip below to hear more from Glenn:


Watch the full special "CIVIL WAR: The Way America Could End in 2020" here.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn's masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multiplatform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.

Start your free trial and get $20 off a one-year subscription with code BANTHIS.

Modern eugenics: Will Christians fight this deadly movement?

Photo by Olga Kononenko on Unsplash

Last month, without much fanfare, a new research paper disclosed that 94 percent of Belgian physicians support the killing of new-born babies after birth if they are diagnosed with a disability.

A shocking revelation indeed that did not receive the attention it demanded. Consider this along with parents who believe that if their unborn babies are pre-diagnosed with a disability, they would choose to abort their child. Upwards of 70 percent of mothers whose children are given a prenatal disability diagnosis, such as Down Syndrome, abort to avoid the possibility of being burdened with caring for a disabled child.

This disdain for the disabled hits close to home for me. In 1997, my family received a letter from Michael Schiavo, the husband of my sister, Terri Schiavo, informing us that he intended to petition a court to withdraw Terri's feeding tube.

For those who do not remember, in 1990, at the age of 26, Terri experienced a still-unexplained collapse while at home with Michael, who subsequently became her legal guardian. Terri required only love and care, food and water via feeding tube since she had difficulty swallowing as a result of her brain injury. Nonetheless, Michael's petition was successful, and Terri's life was intentionally ended in 2005 by depriving her of food and water, causing her to die from dehydration and starvation. It took almost two excruciating weeks.

Prior to my sister's predicament, the biases that existed towards persons with disabilities had been invisible to me. Since then, I have come to learn the dark history of deadly discrimination towards persons with disabilities.

Indeed, some 20 years prior to Germany's T4 eugenics movement, where upwards of 200,000 German citizens were targeted and killed because of their physical or mental disability, the United States was experiencing its own eugenics movement.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas documented some of this history in his concurring opinion in Box v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc., Justice Thomas describes how eugenics became part of the academic curriculum being taught in upwards of 400 American universities and colleges.

It was not solely race that was the target of the U.S. eugenics movement. Eugenicists also targeted the institutionalized due to incurable illness, the physically and cognitively disabled, the elderly, and those with medical dependency.

In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down Roe v. Wade, which wiped out pro-life laws in nearly every state and opened the floodgates to abortion throughout the entirety of pregnancy. Since then, 60 million children have been killed. Abortion as we know it today has become a vehicle for a modern-day eugenics program.

Since the Catholic Church was established, the Truth of Christ was the greatest shield against these types of attacks on the human person and the best weapon in the fight for equality and justice. Tragically, however, for several decades, the Church has been infiltrated by modernist clergy, creating disorder and confusion among the laity, perverting the teachings of the Church and pushing a reckless supposed “social justice" agenda.

My family witnessed this firsthand during Terri's case. Church teaching is clear: it is our moral obligation to provide care for the cognitively disabled like Terri. However, Bishop Robert Lynch, who was the bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida, during Terri's case, offered no support and was derelict in his duties during the fight for Terri's life.

Bishop Lynch had an obligation to use his position to protect Terri from the people trying to kill her and to uphold Church teaching. Indeed, it was not only the silence of Bishop Lynch but that of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which also remained silent despite my family's pleas for help, that contributed to Terri being needlessly starved and dehydrated to death.

My family's experience, sadly, has turned out to be more of the rule than the exception. Consider what happened to Michael Hickson. Hickson was a 36-year-old, brain-injured person admitted to a Texas hospital after contracting COVID-19. Incredibly—and against the wishes of Michael's wife—the hospital decided not to treat Michael because they arbitrarily decided that his “quality of life" was “unacceptably low" due to his pre-existing disability. Michael died within a week once the decision not to treat him was imposed upon him despite the efforts of his wife to obtain basic care for her husband.

During my sister's case and our advocacy work with patients and their families, it would have been helpful to have a unified voice coming from our clergy consistently supporting the lives of our medically vulnerable. We desperately need to see faithful Catholic pastoral witness that confounds the expectations of the elite by pointing to Jesus Christ and the moral law.

A Church that appears more concerned with baptizing the latest social and political movements is a Church that may appear to be “relevant," but one that may also find itself swallowed up by the preoccupations of our time.

As Catholics, we know all too well the reluctance of priests to preach on issues of abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and other pro-life issues. We have heard that the Church cannot risk becoming too political.

At the same time, some within the Church are now openly supporting Black Lives Matter, an organization that openly declares itself hostile to the family, to moral norms as taught by the Church, and whose founders embrace the deadly ideology of Marxism.

For example, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, knelt in prayer with a cardboard sign asserting his support for this ideology.

Recently, during an online liturgy of the mass, Fr. Kenneth Boller at The Church of St. Francis Xavier in New York, led the congregation with what appears to sound like questions affirming the BLM agenda. Moreover, while reading these questions, pictures of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, assumed victims of racial injustice, were placed on the altar of St. Francis Xavier Church, a place typically reserved for Saints of the Catholic Church.

Contrast these two stories with what happened in the Diocese of Lafayette, Indiana, where Rev. Theodore Rothrock of St. Elizabeth Seton Church fell victim to the ire of Bishop Timothy Doherty. Fr. Rothrock used strong language in his weekly church bulletin criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement and its organizers. Consequently, Bishop Doherty suspended Fr. Rothrock from public ministry.

In 1972, Pope Pius VI said, “The smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God." It seems that too many of our clergy today are enjoying the smell.

I encourage all who are concerned about the human right to life and about Christ-centered reforms in our culture and our Church to raise your voices for pastoral leadership in every area of our shared lives as Christian people.

Bobby Schindler is a Senior Fellow with Americans United for Life, Associate Scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, and President of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network.