Jake Latta

[James Talarico @jamestalarico]

No one should have to crowdfund their cancer treatment.

My team and I are in the Rio Grande Valley supporting Cindy Banda, a mother of six fighting cancer — and thousands in medical bills.

I’ll fight to lower healthcare costs for everyone — because healthcare is a human right.

[Mark Cuban @mcuban]

Then I asked for a simplified version of the above :

Here it is in plain English. Denver hired UnitedHealthcare to run its employee health plan. Denver pays the actual medical and drug bills itself — United just processes them. That’s what “self-funded” means. The problem is that Denver can’t see what it’s actually paying for drugs.

1. United buys the drug for one price and charges Denver a different price. It keeps the difference. Say the pharmacy gets paid $40 for a prescription. United bills Denver $100. United keeps $60. Denver never sees the $40. The contract says this out loud in three different places — it’s not hidden, it’s just written in language nobody reads. There’s no cap on how big that gap can be.

2. Drug companies pay rebates. United keeps all of them and hands Denver a flat number instead. United collects rebate checks from drug manufacturers. Instead of passing those through, it promises Denver a fixed amount per brand prescription (about $740 in 2023). If the actual rebate was $1,500, United keeps the extra $760. The contract literally says any rebates above the fixed amount belong to United. Denver has no right to know what the real number was.

3. United decides which drugs are “specialty” — and specialty drugs are where the money is. The contract defines a specialty drug as, essentially, “whatever United’s own specialty pharmacy sells.” United also reserves the right to reclassify drugs whenever it wants. Once a drug is labeled specialty and filled at United’s own pharmacy, it drops out of the normal price guarantees entirely. So the most expensive drugs are the least protected.

4. The most expensive drugs of all — the ones given in a doctor’s office or infusion center — have no price guarantee at all. The contract flatly excludes them. Cancer drugs, infusions, injections administered by a provider. Zero pricing protection.

5. Denver can’t shop around, and it can’t leave without a penalty. Denver isn’t allowed to negotiate directly with any drug manufacturer. It must use United’s mail-order pharmacy exclusively. And if Denver hires an outside vendor that steers employees to cheaper drugs or cheaper pharmacies, United can cancel all the pricing guarantees. If Denver ends the drug program early, United keeps every rebate it owes.

6. Denver can’t audit its way out of this. Denver is allowed one audit a year, capped at 300 prescriptions, using a random sample United has to approve. No auditors paid on commission. No computer-based searches for errors. You cannot find a pricing problem across hundreds of thousands of claims by randomly checking 300 of them. The audit rules exist to make sure nothing gets found.

Is any of it illegal? Almost none of it. It’s a legal contract that Denver signed. The one thing that might cross a line: federal law since 2021 bans “gag clauses” — contract terms that stop an employer from seeing its own cost and claims data. This contract says United may let Denver see its pricing information, at United’s discretion. Federal regulators have said that “only if the vendor allows it” language is exactly what the gag-clause ban prohibits. And Denver has to certify to the government every year that it has no gag clauses in its contracts.

The one thing Denver could actually do about it: Colorado banned this drug markup practice, effective January 2025, and self-funded employers like Denver can opt in. It’s an election, not a lawsuit. Somebody should check whether Denver ever filed it.

The bottom line for an HR person: the drug program looks free. There’s no fee for it anywhere in the contract. That’s the tell. United isn’t working for free — it’s getting paid out of the drug prices, and the contract is built so Denver can’t measure how much.

[Adam Hamilton @Hamilton4Kansas]

It's time for something different.

[Sam Stein @samstein]

This is really incredible. Docs released by Trump tonight confirm RUSSIA tried to spread claims Biden was engaged in criminal activity vis-a-vis Burisma and that it advanced those narratives "with US officials" and planed a "high-profile corruption scandal... at the peak of the 2020 US presidential campaign."

[Governor Newsom Press Office @GovPressOffice]

Tonight, the country watched an old man ramble about an election he lost.

Democracy IS under threat. But the danger isn’t just from abroad. It’s from within.

Don’t give in to cynicism. Don’t stay silent. And above all, don’t stop voting.

That’s exactly what Trump and MAGA want.

You are the antidote to Trump’s madness.

Accountability is coming — and the American people will deliver it.

[Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1]

Statement from Annie Farmer on meeting with Todd Blanche:

"After meeting with Todd Blanche, I feel even more confident in urging senators to vote against his confirmation as the United States' Attorney General.

"I found him abrasive, condescending, and intentionally noncommittal to survivors — a marked contrast to his public testimony during his confirmation hearing.

"While quick to point to the failures of previous administrations, he refused to take accountability for mistakes made under his own leadership. Specifically, he would not commit to an inquiry into why my sister Maria Farmer's 1996 report went uninvestigated; he refused to release documents related to internal discussions about charging Epstein that would provide important clarification about previous errors, and his explanations for his nine-hour interview with Ghislaine Maxwell and her subsequent transfer to a less secure facility were wholly dissatisfactory and contrived.

"His evasiveness felt like a deliberate attempt to claim the Attorney General's office is powerless in this matter. By passing the buck once again, he is leaving survivors trapped in the same endless loop of searching for answers and receiving none."

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Ossoff: "I think it's time for the president to do something of value for the American people instead of lining his pockets while he's in office"

[Reverend Raphael Warnock @ReverendWarnock]

Donald Trump is at war with our democracy and Georgia is ground zero.

But this is John Lewis’ Georgia. We are not intimidated. We are not moved.

Mr. President, instead of attacking our democracy, why don’t you do something about the high cost of gas, housing, and health care?

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

COLLINS: There are 84 co-sponsors on the Russia sanctions bill. You're not one of them. Why?

SEN. ROGER MARSHALL: I was kind of waiting for the White House. I think at some point we have to follow the leadership of the White House

COLLINS: So it depends on President Trump?

MARSHALL: I think that's oversimplifying it

[Ethan Corson @ethancorson]

It is morally and economically imperative that we expand Medicaid in Kansas. No one in our state should need to rely on a GoFundMe or go broke to pay for the care they need. I am committed to continuing the fight to expand Medicaid and support working Kansans.

[Popular Liberal 🇺🇸 @PopularLiberal]

WOW! James Talarico just packed the Plano Event Center in Collin County—blew the roof off Ken Paxton's own backyard—with 4,000+ people, standing room only, and lines wrapped around the building.

This is the county that launched Paxton's career, the same county where his securities fraud mugshot was taken 15 minutes up the road, and the same county Republicans called "unflippable."

And a Democrat just brought the house down in it.

Talarico looked at that crowd and said what we're all thinking: "They're afraid of this movement. They're afraid of this crowd in Plano, Texas."

Damn right they are.

Paxton's out here calling him "Talafreakco" like a middle school bully while Talarico's selling "I'm a Talafreako" shirts and outraising every Senate campaign in Texas history.

First quarter: $28 million, more than double Beto and Colin Allred combined.

Real men don't lie and cheat their way through life. They don't scam their own friends for a quick buck. They don't serve themselves—they serve others. Ken Paxton has escaped accountability for 4,000+ days. But accountability is coming November 3.

Democrats, pay attention. This is what it looks like when you run on corruption, not away from it. This is what it looks like when you fight in their backyard and win the crowd.

The suburbs are shifting. Collin County is shifting. Texas is shifting.

Retrumplican crook politicians don't own you. You own them.

LFG TEXAS!!!

[Rep. Sylvia Garcia @RepSylviaGarcia]

ICE shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in our community.

His family deserves answers.

That is why I sent a letter to DHS and ICE demanding a real independent investigation, all video footage, and a full accounting of what happened.

ICE cannot investigate itself.

@RepAlGreen @RepFletcher @RepCDMenefee @HispanicCaucus

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

James Talarico: “We are here at Corruption HQ which is the office of Attorney General Ken Paxton where behind closed doors a sweetheart deal was given to a well-connected lawyer who abused an 8-year-old boy. We don’t need anymore pedophile protectors in our government. I filed a public information request to release the Hoffman Files, Ken Paxton just rejected it”

[James Talarico @jamestalarico]

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was a father of three. He lived in Houston for 35 years.

On his way to work, ICE agents shot and killed him. His family learned from a video posted online.

There must be accountability. We need a full, independent investigation.

[The Lincoln Project @ProjectLincoln]

While we celebrated our 250 years of independence from a king here in America, @KenPaxtonTX and his mistress went to London to see what life is like with one.

[James Talarico @jamestalarico]

Americans celebrated 250 years of independence from Britain this weekend.

Ken Paxton spent it with the British.

[Kurtis Seaboldt 🇺🇸 @klseaboldt]

One reason they didn't need to get 60 votes is that THERE WAS NO SENATE IN 1776!

How do you even dress yourself?

[FactPost @factpostnews]

One year ago today, Trump and Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, cutting healthcare by $1 trillion. Since then:

—The average cost of healthcare has doubled
—4.2 million Americans lost ACA coverage
—3.8 million Americans lost Medicaid coverage
—Nearly 500 hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes have closed

[Adam Hamilton @Hamilton4Kansas]

Two hundred fifty years ago, America was born with an extraordinary promise. That we're all created equal, that we could govern ourselves, and that we are born with the same unalienable rights.

We don't always fully live up to those ideals, but every generation picks the work back up and carries it a little further. That's what I love about this country. We never stop striving to bring the promise of America to every American.

Happy Fourth, Kansas. Be safe as you celebrate, and enjoy every minute of it. – AH

[Adam Hamilton @Hamilton4Kansas]

Adam has a plan to help bring prices down.

Read the first plank of his Affordability Agenda to lower energy and housing costs. Help us spread the word!