Latest / The Breakfast Club / Medicare's Freeze, Spirit's $10 Million Bonus, and Florida vs. the NFL

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Medicare's Freeze, Spirit's $10 Million Bonus, and Florida vs. the NFL · The Breakfast Club

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: The government just froze home health and hospice businesses from
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: joining Medicare, saying fraud inside the system has gotten out
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: of control.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: The hospice frauds not just about stealing money.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: They're stealing your live.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: They're thinking away your health. They're stealing for ourmost vulnerable spirit.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Airline workers say they were laid off by email while
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: executives prepared to collect millions in bonuses. I was like,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: I don't have healthcare. I can't go to the doctor.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: People are scrambling to go get prescriptions, food.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: That we only had that day.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: And Florida is now challenging the NFL policy that requires
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: teams to interview minority candidates for top coaching jobs.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: I hope they scraped this rule. I hope they revisit it.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: We've given them until May one to provide their official
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: response to our office.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: It's Friday, May fifteenth, from the Black Effects Podcast Network.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: I'm Mimi Brown. This is Front Page and here are
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: today's biggest stories, plus coming up the very first Front
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Page Friday Quiz, the re Questions, three Front Pagers, walk
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: away winners announced next week, and one thing happening Saturday
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: in Alabama. You need to know about stay with me.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: This week, the Trump administration announced a major move involving
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Medicare that could, in fact families across the country, especially
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: families caring for elderly or sick loved ones at home.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: The administration is temporarily blocking any new home health or
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: hospice business from joining the Medicare system nationwide. Home health
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: workers are people who come into someone's home and help
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: with everyday care, bathing, medication reminders, checking blood pressure, helping
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: seniors say independent a little longer. Hospice care is different.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: That's end of life care nurses, aids, counselors, and chaplains
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: helping families care for loved ones during their final chapter.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: And for a lot of families, these surfaces matter deeply
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: because many families prefer keeping loved ones at home instead
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: of moving them into long term care for scaresacilities. Now,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: the Trump administration says this freeze is about fraud, and
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: again it is.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Every single day I learn of something new. I learn
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: about people who say that they're claiming for hospice services,
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: but in fact they're not providing any services, and they're
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: making hundreds of millions or billions of dollars in the process.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Vice President Jade Vance's Anti fraud Task team says investigators
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: have uncovered major fraud schemes involving fake billing and questionable
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Medicare payments inside the home health and hospice industry.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: We have seen people go out there and say that
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: they're providing services to autistic children, when in reality they
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: maybe don't have any children at all, or they certainly
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: don't have autistic children. So they get paid millions and
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: millions of year dollars to provide services that they're not
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: actually providing, and we are stopping it every single day.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: The administration says the pause is temporary while investigators review
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: who is currently operating inside the Medicare system, but critics
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: say the freeze could also hurt legitimate providers and families
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: who actually need care. But many healthcare groups say the
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: bigger question is whether the crackdown could end up making
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: it harder for people to get care, especially while the
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: government says it's trying to root out fraud. Imagine one
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: minute you have a job, the next you're checking your
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: email and learning the company is shutting down. No meeting,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: no warning, just an email that's now at the center
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: of a lawsuit involving former Spirit Airline workers. A group
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: of ex employees is suing the airline, claiming Spirit shut
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: down operations with no warning, no proper severance process, and
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: in some cases, no final paycheck.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: It was like, Okay, how I'm going to pay these
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: bials because I just purchased a new home.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Very overwhelming and it hits a little bit more every day.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: First thing I thought about, I don't have healthcare back.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: On May second, Spirit Airlines abruptly stopped operating. Around seven
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: teen thousand employees lost their jobs almost overnight after the
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: company sent workers in email saying it was ceasing operations immediately.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Workers say that move violated federal law. It's called the
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Warn Act. The law is designed to stop companies from
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: blind siding employees during mass layoffs. In most cases, companies
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: are supposed to give workers at least sixty days notice
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: before cutting jobs on a large scale. The lawsuit argues
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Spirit didn't do that. Former workers are now asking for
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: sixty days of back pay, unpaid benefits, retirement contributions, and
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: compensation for unused vacation and sick time.
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: I'm sixty. I was hoping I retired another two years
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: because I have ten years for the end plus the
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: company years, and I can retire, so it's like I've
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: just got to start all over again.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: And while workers say they were left scrambling, Spirit has
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: reportedly asked a bankruptcy court to approve more than ten
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: million dollars in retention bonuses for executives and leadership, helping
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: to want down the company. Spirit argues it couldn't warn
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: workers ahead of time because doing so may have hurt
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: its ability to secure financing and continue operating. That lawsuit
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: is now moving through the bankruptcy court and could end
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: up becoming a major test on how much protection workers
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: actually have when companies collapse overnight. Today on Front Page,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: we're starting something new and I need your help with it.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Every Friday from here on out, the Front Page Friday
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Quiz three questions from this week's stories. If you've been listening,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: you've got these. So here's how it works. I ask
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: you answer, then you email me at Front Page with
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Mimi at gmail dot com. The cutoff is Tuesday night.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: The first three Front Pagers to get all three right
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: get a shout out right here next Friday. Since this
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: is the very first Friday Quiz, there's no one to
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: call out just yet, but next week that could be you.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: All right, here we go. President Trump said the financial
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: pain of Americans doesn't motivate him in negotiations with which country?
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Second question, the state of Tennessee just cut up the
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: congressional district for which southern city? Question Number three the curveball.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: What US Senator did FBI Director Cash Brittel challenge to
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: take an alcohol test? Okay, that's your quiz Email front
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: page with Mimi at gmail dot com. The cutoff is
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Tuesday night winners next Friday. Florida is now taking aim
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: at one of the NFL's most well known diversity policies,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: the Rooney Rule. The Attorney General of Florida has issued
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: an investigative subpoena to the NFL, arguing the league's hiring
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: rule may violate state anti discrimination laws.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: I hope they scraped this rule. I hope they revisit it.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: We've given them until May one to provide their official
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: response to our office, and then easy way the hard way,
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: for we have to go the hard way.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: For more than two decades, NFL teams have been required
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: to interview minority candidates for major leadership jobs like head coach,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: general manager, and coordinator positions. The rule was created back
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: in two thousand and three after study show black coaches
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: were consistently being passed over for top jobs, despite black
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: players making up most of the league. Florida now says
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: that policy itself is discriminatory. Back in March, the state
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: attorney general sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: calling the Rooney Rule blatant race and sex discrimination and
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: warning the league to suspend it. The NFL did not
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: get rid of the policy, but it did quietly change
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: the wording on its website. The league previously described the
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Rooney Rule as a way to increase minority hiring. Now
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: the NFL says the policies about expanding opportunity and strengthening
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: the talent pipeline. Florida says that change raises even more questions.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: The subpoena now seeks documents related not just to the
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Rooney Rule, but also other NFL diversity initiatives, including leadership
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: development programs aimed at minority candidates.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: If they want to continue to break Florida law, we
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: will have to pursue litigation and enforce our Civil Rights Act.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: The NFL has not publicly responded to the subpoena, but
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Commissioner Roger Goodell previously defended the policy, saying the rule
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: has evolved over time and remains important.
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: Erney Ruld's been around a long time. We've evolved, that
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: we've changed it will continue to do that as circumstances want.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Supporters of the Rooney Rule argue it was never about
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: guaranteeing jobs. It was about guaranteeing access and interviews in
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: the league where black leadership has always historically been underrepresented. Meanwhile,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: critics argue hiring decisions should be completely race neutral.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: NFL teams and their fans don't care about the race
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: of the coaching staff. They want a merit based system
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: that gives their team the best chance to win.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: And this is part of a much larger conversation in
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: a national fight that we're seeing play out right now
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: around DEI programs, workplace diversity policies, and who gets access
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: to opportunities in corporate America, and now even the NFL
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: is part of that debate. Before we go, one more thing.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Saturday May sixteenth, activists from across the country are expected
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: to gather in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama for the All
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Roads Leads to the South National Day of Action focused
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: on voting rights. The coalition includes civil rights, labor and
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: faith organizations protesting the recent Supreme Court ruling that weakens
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: the black voting power across the South. Events begin with
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: faith leaders at nine AM and Selma, followed by the
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: main rally at one PM in Montgomery. Organizers say the
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: goal is to bring national attention to the voting rights,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: representation and access to the ballot box. If you can go, go,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: If you can't find out more information at All Roads
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Lead to the South. That's your front page. I'm Mimi Brown.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: This podcast was brought to you by the Black Effect
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Podcast Network. Yes