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TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

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Glenn's Show Prep

Their Insurance Didn’t Want to Cover This Family – Then the Audience Stepped In

August 14, 2017
Jon Boldt

Writer

Last week, Russell Cruzan II and Michelle Budnik-Nap joined Glenn on radio Monday to share an update on their son Russell Cruzan, who suffers from the same debilitating genetic condition that Charlie Gard had.

According to the Michigan couple, their insurance company didn’t want to cover the baby’s appointment with a mitochondrial specialist in Boston because Priority Health thought a nearby geneticist was sufficient for Russell’s care. Known as “Bubby,” the baby has mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, a rare degenerative genetic condition that affects organs and muscles. While there is no known medical cure, medical specialists have been able to improve quality of life for children with the condition.

The insurance company’s Facebook page blew up with lots of comments following the couple’s interview on radio Thursday. Dad Russell Cruzan had the latest update on Monday morning: Priority Health’s medical director is now handling the case, and the family is moving forward with the company to work out covering the baby’s initial appointment with a specialist.

The family should have an answer for their case by Wednesday, he said.

GLENN: Hmm.

I believe it was on Friday, we had Russell Cruzan on. His son is Bubby. Bubby is a newborn, less than a year old, who has been diagnosed with the same disease that -- oh, shoot, now I've forgotten his name.

STU: Charlie Gard.

GLENN: Charlie Gard has had in England. When we first had him on, we just talked about how the family is and everything is going on. Insurance was fine.

Last week, we found out that their insurance company is not going to cover a -- a doctor's appointment or allow them to go out of state because, "You've got a geneticist." Well, no.

The geneticist in the state says, "I'm not an expert in this. There's one guy that is an expert. And the baby needs to see an expert." This isn't like -- this can't be solved in -- at a doc in the box. We need a specialist on this.

So we found out that they were trying to get an appointment. By the end of the day, I think the fundraiser that we started in the morning was up to $40,000. And -- and we were also looking for information about the insurance company on what the insurance company was going to do, whether they would reconsider.

I got this note: Glenn, Thursday after we got off the phone, Priority Health called me and said that it was indeed denied. Their case. But I needed to file an appeal as fast as possible. He then said that their Facebook was blowing up with all kinds of comments.

I tried to file the appeal, but the email server was down, perhaps from all of the emails and comments from your awesome supporters. They then called me this morning, I think this was Friday and said: Don't worry about the appeal right now. The medical director is now handling our case and is going to talk to geneticist. And they're trying to see if they can get this approval done for us. Thanks so much for all of the help from your listeners. We'd be lost without you guys.

Russell, welcome to the program.

RUSSELL: Hey. How's it going?

GLENN: Good. What a rollercoaster this is.

RUSSELL: Yes, it is.

GLENN: Okay. So tell us what has happened.

So I really want to provide a free commercial for Priority Health, you know, and let people call in, like you, who have had, you know, problems where they've solved it. Are they going to solve this problem, do you think?

RUSSELL: I'm really hoping they do. It sounds like, after Thursday, it sounds like they started backpedaling a lot.

GLENN: Okay.

RUSSELL: They're like -- I mean, all the negativity they were getting and everything. They did tell me, come Wednesday, they'd have an answer for me. And they did talk to our geneticist and the one we're trying to go see.

GLENN: Great.

Well, here's what we would like to do: And you can -- you can offer this. You know, when they decide that they are going to, you know, show the -- you know, cover Bubby and -- and -- and make sure that he can go to a geneticist and the insurance company recognizes, of course, that, you know, they don't know more than the actual experts in the field, that they're there to cover and write checks, not to make diagnosis or health care calls. I'd love to have their representative on to be able to give them the accolades and point out that this is an insurance company that, you know, has a heart and is doing that.

And if they choose not to cover -- you know, they said by Wednesday, let's stay in touch. When they come back, if they choose not to cover, I'd also like to give them free advertising. And we'll pick a day. And I just want to hear from just those people who have filed, you know, for things and then had Priority -- what is it? Priority Health?

RUSSELL: Correct.

GLENN: Yeah, that had Priority Health turned them down, but then correct -- I'm sure -- I'm sure there's tons of stories where they filed and everything went fine. It was all corrected.

So whatever your story is with Priority Health, I'm going to give you an opportunity to have a nationwide audience. And we'll dedicate the entire show to Priority Health, to show -- we'll have the listeners and people who actually have Priority Health explain what a wonderful health care company and provider this provider is.

Everything else good, Russell?

RUSSELL: Yeah, everything else is going great.

GLENN: Good. Do you have the appointment set?

RUSSELL: Yes, we do. August 24th. They have agreed to let us pay out of pocket, which will be easily done now with all the support that we got from everybody after that show.

GLENN: What is it up to now? Do you know?

RUSSELL: Almost $57,000.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: Fifty-seven thousands. Well, that's good.

All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. And we'll -- you just keep in touch with me. And let's make sure that one way or another, everyone knows exactly how great Priority Health is.

RUSSELL: Sounds good. Thank you very much.

GLENN: You're welcome. Thank you.

If we just used our power for good, as opposed to evil.

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: What we could accomplish.

JEFFY: That's what I tell myself, looking here at PriorityHealth.com.

GLENN: Oh, you know what, you can write to them on their Facebook page. They love it.

STU: Well, you're optimistic though on the way they're going to handle this. Right?

GLENN: I am. I am.

PAT: Well, who wouldn't be? I mean, surely there can't be too many stories from Priority Health customers where things have gone bad, right?

JEFFY: No.

PAT: There can't be -- I mean, nobody is perfect. Maybe there's one or two. But I'm sure if we opened up the phones on Thursday to find out more, you know, we would only hear a couple of stories.

GLENN: Right.

STU: We probably won't.

JEFFY: If any.

PAT: If any, yeah.

GLENN: If any. They're probably a great company.

PAT: Maybe this is the only snafu.

GLENN: Right. But that's why I want to open it up. I want to hear from all those people that have said -- that will tell us, "Hey, I had this with Priority Health, and everything was covered. And we got it covered in time. And there was no problems. And they wrote the check."

JEFFY: Right.

GLENN: "And they're just the greatest company of all the time."

PAT: That's exactly what I expect to hear.

GLENN: That's exactly what I expect to hear too. So we'll open that up for the people who actually pay the probably very low premium and very low deductible as well, for Priority Health. Anxious to advertise for them.

STU: And to be clear, that's the only time -- we would only do that if we had an indication or a concern that this was of more frequent occurrence. If they were able to handle this claim the way that they're supposed to, I mean, there's no reason --

PAT: We would be happy to talk about that too. Right.

GLENN: I would be happy to have the CEO on.

STU: And he could tell us about --

PAT: And thank them.

GLENN: And tell us -- and thank them. Sincerely thank them for taking a look at it.

PAT: Yeah. Because obviously mistakes happen.

GLENN: Right.

STU: That's why they have an appeals process.

GLENN: Exactly right. Exactly right. Wish that it didn't take a huge radio show to --

PAT: Either way, it should be a fun day for them on Thursday.

GLENN: Oh, it's going to be a fun day for them.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: Yeah. One day perhaps -- one way perhaps a little more fun than the other.

PAT: Perhaps.

GLENN: Perhaps.

JEFFY: Eh.

GLENN: Huh?

JEFFY: If you say so.

GLENN: Okay. All right.

Trump’s secret war in the Caribbean EXPOSED — It’s not about drugs

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

The president’s moves in Venezuela, Guyana, and Colombia aren’t about drugs. They’re about re-establishing America’s sovereignty across the Western Hemisphere.

For decades, we’ve been told America’s wars are about drugs, democracy, or “defending freedom.” But look closer at what’s unfolding off the coast of Venezuela, and you’ll see something far more strategic taking shape. Donald Trump’s so-called drug war isn’t about fentanyl or cocaine. It’s about control — and a rebirth of American sovereignty.

The aim of Trump’s ‘drug war’ is to keep the hemisphere’s oil, minerals, and manufacturing within the Western family and out of Beijing’s hands.

The president understands something the foreign policy class forgot long ago: The world doesn’t respect apologies. It respects strength.

While the global elites in Davos tout the Great Reset, Trump is building something entirely different — a new architecture of power based on regional independence, not global dependence. His quiet campaign in the Western Hemisphere may one day be remembered as the second Monroe Doctrine.

Venezuela sits at the center of it all. It holds the world’s largest crude oil reserves — oil perfectly suited for America’s Gulf refineries. For years, China and Russia have treated Venezuela like a pawn on their chessboard, offering predatory loans in exchange for control of those resources. The result has been a corrupt, communist state sitting in our own back yard. For too long, Washington shrugged. Not any more.The naval exercises in the Caribbean, the sanctions, the patrols — they’re not about drug smugglers. They’re about evicting China from our hemisphere.

Trump is using the old “drug war” playbook to wage a new kind of war — an economic and strategic one — without firing a shot at our actual enemies. The goal is simple: Keep the hemisphere’s oil, minerals, and manufacturing within the Western family and out of Beijing’s hands.

Beyond Venezuela

Just east of Venezuela lies Guyana, a country most Americans couldn’t find on a map a year ago. Then ExxonMobil struck oil, and suddenly Guyana became the newest front in a quiet geopolitical contest. Washington is helping defend those offshore platforms, build radar systems, and secure undersea cables — not for charity, but for strategy. Control energy, data, and shipping lanes, and you control the future.

Moreover, Colombia — a country once defined by cartels — is now positioned as the hinge between two oceans and two continents. It guards the Panama Canal and sits atop rare-earth minerals every modern economy needs. Decades of American presence there weren’t just about cocaine interdiction; they were about maintaining leverage over the arteries of global trade. Trump sees that clearly.

PEDRO MATTEY / Contributor | Getty Images

All of these recent news items — from the military drills in the Caribbean to the trade negotiations — reflect a new vision of American power. Not global policing. Not endless nation-building. It’s about strategic sovereignty.

It’s the same philosophy driving Trump’s approach to NATO, the Middle East, and Asia. We’ll stand with you — but you’ll stand on your own two feet. The days of American taxpayers funding global security while our own borders collapse are over.

Trump’s Monroe Doctrine

Critics will call it “isolationism.” It isn’t. It’s realism. It’s recognizing that America’s strength comes not from fighting other people’s wars but from securing our own energy, our own supply lines, our own hemisphere. The first Monroe Doctrine warned foreign powers to stay out of the Americas. The second one — Trump’s — says we’ll defend them, but we’ll no longer be their bank or their babysitter.

Historians may one day mark this moment as the start of a new era — when America stopped apologizing for its own interests and started rebuilding its sovereignty, one barrel, one chip, and one border at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Antifa isn’t “leaderless” — It’s an organized machine of violence

Jeff J Mitchell / Staff | Getty Images

The mob rises where men of courage fall silent. The lesson from Portland, Chicago, and other blue cities is simple: Appeasing radicals doesn’t buy peace — it only rents humiliation.

Parts of America, like Portland and Chicago, now resemble occupied territory. Progressive city governments have surrendered control to street militias, leaving citizens, journalists, and even federal officers to face violent anarchists without protection.

Take Portland, where Antifa has terrorized the city for more than 100 consecutive nights. Federal officers trying to keep order face nightly assaults while local officials do nothing. Independent journalists, such as Nick Sortor, have even been arrested for documenting the chaos. Sortor and Blaze News reporter Julio Rosas later testified at the White House about Antifa’s violence — testimony that corporate media outlets buried.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened.

Chicago offers the same grim picture. Federal agents have been stalked, ambushed, and denied backup from local police while under siege from mobs. Calls for help went unanswered, putting lives in danger. This is more than disorder; it is open defiance of federal authority and a violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.

A history of violence

For years, the legacy media and left-wing think tanks have portrayed Antifa as “decentralized” and “leaderless.” The opposite is true. Antifa is organized, disciplined, and well-funded. Groups like Rose City Antifa in Oregon, the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club in Texas, and Jane’s Revenge operate as coordinated street militias. Legal fronts such as the National Lawyers Guild provide protection, while crowdfunding networks and international supporters funnel money directly to the movement.

The claim that Antifa lacks structure is a convenient myth — one that’s cost Americans dearly.

History reminds us what happens when mobs go unchecked. The French Revolution, Weimar Germany, Mao’s Red Guards — every one began with chaos on the streets. But it wasn’t random. Today’s radicals follow the same playbook: Exploit disorder, intimidate opponents, and seize moral power while the state looks away.

Dismember the dragon

The Trump administration’s decision to designate Antifa a domestic terrorist organization was long overdue. The label finally acknowledged what citizens already knew: Antifa functions as a militant enterprise, recruiting and radicalizing youth for coordinated violence nationwide.

But naming the threat isn’t enough. The movement’s financiers, organizers, and enablers must also face justice. Every dollar that funds Antifa’s destruction should be traced, seized, and exposed.

AFP Contributor / Contributor | Getty Images

This fight transcends party lines. It’s not about left versus right; it’s about civilization versus anarchy. When politicians and judges excuse or ignore mob violence, they imperil the republic itself. Americans must reject silence and cowardice while street militias operate with impunity.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened. The violence in Portland and Chicago is deliberate, not spontaneous. If America fails to confront it decisively, the price won’t just be broken cities — it will be the erosion of the republic itself.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

URGENT: Supreme Court case could redefine religious liberty

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

The state is effectively silencing professionals who dare speak truths about gender and sexuality, redefining faith-guided speech as illegal.

This week, free speech is once again on the line before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake is whether Americans still have the right to talk about faith, morality, and truth in their private practice without the government’s permission.

The case comes out of Colorado, where lawmakers in 2019 passed a ban on what they call “conversion therapy.” The law prohibits licensed counselors from trying to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation, including their behaviors or gender expression. The law specifically targets Christian counselors who serve clients attempting to overcome gender dysphoria and not fall prey to the transgender ideology.

The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The law does include one convenient exception. Counselors are free to “assist” a person who wants to transition genders but not someone who wants to affirm their biological sex. In other words, you can help a child move in one direction — one that is in line with the state’s progressive ideology — but not the other.

Think about that for a moment. The state is saying that a counselor can’t even discuss changing behavior with a client. Isn’t that the whole point of counseling?

One‑sided freedom

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, has been one of the victims of this blatant attack on the First Amendment. Chiles has dedicated her practice to helping clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality struggles, and gender dysphoria. She’s also a Christian who serves patients seeking guidance rooted in biblical teaching.

Before 2019, she could counsel minors according to her faith. She could talk about biblical morality, identity, and the path to wholeness. When the state outlawed that speech, she stopped. She followed the law — and then she sued.

Her case, Chiles v. Salazar, is now before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday. The question: Is counseling a form of speech or merely a government‑regulated service?

If the court rules the wrong way, it won’t just silence therapists. It could muzzle pastors, teachers, parents — anyone who believes in truth grounded in something higher than the state.

Censored belief

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. I believe that family — mother, father, child — is central to His design for humanity.

I believe that men and women are created in God’s image, with divine purpose and eternal worth. Gender isn’t an accessory; it’s part of who we are.

I believe the command to “be fruitful and multiply” still stands, that the power to create life is sacred, and that it belongs within marriage between a man and a woman.

And I believe that when we abandon these principles — when we treat sex as recreation, when we dissolve families, when we forget our vows — society fractures.

Are those statements controversial now? Maybe. But if this case goes against Chiles, those statements and others could soon be illegal to say aloud in public.

Faith on trial

In Colorado today, a counselor cannot sit down with a 15‑year‑old who’s struggling with gender identity and say, “You were made in God’s image, and He does not make mistakes.” That is now considered hate speech.

That’s the “freedom” the modern left is offering — freedom to affirm, but never to question. Freedom to comply, but never to dissent. The same movement that claims to champion tolerance now demands silence from anyone who disagrees. The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The real test

No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we cannot stop speaking the truth. These beliefs aren’t political slogans. For me, they are the product of years of wrestling, searching, and learning through pain and grace what actually leads to peace. For us, they are the fundamental principles that lead to a flourishing life. We cannot balk at standing for truth.

Maybe that’s why God allows these moments — moments when believers are pushed to the wall. They force us to ask hard questions: What is true? What is worth standing for? What is worth dying for — and living for?

If we answer those questions honestly, we’ll find not just truth, but freedom.

The state doesn’t grant real freedom — and it certainly isn’t defined by Colorado legislators. Real freedom comes from God. And the day we forget that, the First Amendment will mean nothing at all.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins Megyn Kelly LIVE — One night ONLY in Fort Worth!

Get ready for sparks to fly. For the first time in years, Glenn will come face-to-face with Megyn Kelly — and this time, he’s the one in the hot seat. On October 25, 2025, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Glenn joins Megyn on her “Megyn Kelly Live Tour” for a no-holds-barred conversation that promises laughs, surprises, and maybe even a few uncomfortable questions.

What will happen when two of America’s sharpest voices collide under the spotlight? Will Glenn finally reveal the major announcement he’s been teasing on the radio for weeks? You’ll have to be there to find out.

This promises to be more than just an interview — it’s a live showdown packed with wit, honesty, and the kind of energy you can only feel if you are in the room. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss your chance to see Glenn like you’ve never seen him before.

Get your tickets NOW at www.MegynKelly.com before they’re gone!