--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Thursday, February 20th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, a couple ways New York City Mayor Eric Adams could lose his job, why it's worth your time to fight a denied health insurance claim, and in hockey, the United States and Canada, fresh off last weekend's brawl, face off again tonight. But first, almost three years to the day after Russian tanks first invaded Ukraine, President Trump shocked Ukraine and European allies by blaming Ukraine for the war, further straining relations between the U.S. and its NATO and Ukrainian allies.
--:-- [Audio clip of President Trump's press conference]
--:-- Shamita Basu: Remember, Ukraine and members of the NATO alliance were already upset that Russia and the United States excluded them from peace negotiations in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. And Trump's lie about how the war started came during a press conference Tuesday evening in response to a reporter's question about how those talks went.
--:-- [Audio clip of President Trump's press conference continues]
--:-- Shamita Basu: Here's the president. And I think it's going very well. But today I heard, oh, well, we weren't invited. Well, you've been there for three years. You should have ended it three years. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal. I could have made a deal for Ukraine. That would have given them almost all of the land.
--:-- [Audio clip of President Trump's press conference ends]
--:-- Shamita Basu: The war began in February of 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine from three sides, with troops, tanks, and airstrikes targeting cities, military bases, schools, and hospitals. Tens of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes. It was the biggest attack on a European nation since World War II.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In Tuesday's press conference, Trump also incorrectly claimed President Zelensky has a 4% domestic approval rating. According to polling from this month, Zelensky's approval rating is above 50 percent.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And Zelensky, in response to Trump's comments, accused the president of parroting talking points from the Kremlin. Since we are talking about 4 percent, we have seen this disinformation. We understand that it is coming from Russia. We understand and we have evidence that these numbers are being discussed between America and Russia.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It is unfortunate that President Trump, and with great respect for him as the leader of the American people who constantly support us, unfortunately lives in this disinformation space.
--:-- Shamita Basu: During Tuesday's press conference and on social media in response to that comment from Zelensky you just heard, Trump called Zelensky a dictator and suggested the Ukrainian president should not be in power.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Elections in Ukraine were supposed to happen in 2024, but they've been suspended during wartime under martial law. A survey of Ukrainians conducted last year found 70 percent of people support it, allowing Zelensky to remain in power until martial law is lifted.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And Zelensky's administration has said it plans to hold elections immediately after the war has ended.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump's envoy for Ukraine and Russia, retired General Keith Kellogg, arrived in Kiev on Wednesday to meet with Zelensky. He told reporters upon arrival that part of his mission will be to listen to what Zelensky wants from U.S.-Russia peace talks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Meanwhile, members of NATO held their second emergency meeting this week on Wednesday, this time including nations that were not at the previous meeting to discuss how to recalibrate their relationship with the United States.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Wall Street Journal reports that this moment feels particularly difficult for European members of NATO to navigate. NATO was created in 1949 as a way for the United States to support the rebuilding of Europe after the Second World War.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At the time, the U.S. viewed an economically and militarily strong Europe as crucial to preventing communist expansion across the continent. Now it seems the premise of that alliance is being tested, and European leaders are questioning the U.S.'s leadership in a new way.
--:-- Shamita Basu: New York City Mayor Eric Adams still has a job, for now. There's been a lot of talk about whether the mayor will volunteer to step down or if he'll be forced out.
--:-- Shamita Basu: All of this after a wave of criticism following the DOJ's move to drop federal corruption charges against Adams, charges he pleaded not guilty to.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yesterday, the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, appeared in court before a federal judge to justify why the DOJ was asking to drop the case. Adams was there, too.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Bove said the move to drop the charges was not based on the strength of the evidence that the prosecution was, quote, politicized and tainted.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And he said the case was distracting the mayor from doing his job, which he wrote in an earlier memo included cooperating with Trump's immigration enforcement plans.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The judge did not issue an immediate ruling, leaving the charges in place for now.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Washington Post describes it as highly unusual for a senior department official like Bove to personally argue a case in court and to do it alone without the assistance of lower-level prosecutors.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But since Bove ordered the dismissal of Adams' case, eight veterans of the department resigned in protest, as did most of the senior leadership of the DOJ's Public Integrity Division.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Meanwhile, for Adams, this case and the suggested quid pro quo behind dropping it led to the resignations of four top deputies in his administration this week.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There have been numerous calls for Adams to resign, which he has so far refused to do, and calls for Governor Kathy Hochul to remove him from office.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She's given the authority in the state charter to be able to do that.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Katie Honan is a senior reporter for the city, an online news site covering New York. She told us Governor Hochul says she's considering it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The other possible way to remove him from office would involve an obscure body assembled by the city council.
--:-- Shamita Basu: What's known as the Inability Committee, which is a special committee that convenes to remove the mayor.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And it's made up of five people. Those five people are the city council speaker, the city comptroller, one deputy mayor, the city's top lawyer, and the borough president who's served in their position the longest.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Honan told us this is all unprecedented. A governor has never removed a mayor of New York City, and the Inability Committee has never been formed.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I know that there's been plenty of other mayors with investigations and other scandals, but nothing like this has ever happened, and it's never really been required.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We asked Honan why is Adams so adamant about holding onto an office amid serious allegations of corruption, low public approval, high-profile resignations, and the prospect of being removed from office.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She says the reason is a pretty simple equation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There the political maneuvering of he really only useful to President Trump who personally trying to get his charges dropped if he mayor of New York City
--:-- Shamita Basu: The timing of all this matters as well. New York holds a mayoral primary in June with the general election in November.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Adams, a Democrat, has floated the idea of maybe running as a Republican.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Should he survive this and run for re-election, Honan says, she wouldn't count him out just yet.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I don't know his chances. But again, he's a very skilled campaigner.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And his message when he's been out is this message of we've all faced adversity. You've had challenges. I've had challenges. I am you.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's his message. And I think to some voters that actually resonates.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Health insurance companies process more than 5 billion claims a year. Roughly 17% of those claims are denied. That's 850 million every year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But research shows the people who do appeal, which is less than 1% of patients, largely get those claims approved.
--:-- Shamita Basu: About three quarters of those people are successful. And so that's a pretty good figure.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Julie Wernow covers health for The Wall Street Journal.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And she told us why, despite this success rate, many people don't file an appeal when their claim is denied.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She says some feel like there's no point. Others are daunted by the paperwork.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some are too trusting that insurance companies were right to deny their claim, and many people are simply overwhelmed by the medical issues they're facing.
--:-- Shamita Basu: When someone gets a denial, often they might be in one of the worst emotional moments of their life, and so that prevents a lot of people from moving forward.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She told us about one family's journey through the claims system.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Emily Beck contracted COVID-19 and viral pneumonia when she was in kindergarten in 2021.
--:-- Shamita Basu: After she got better from the illness, her mom noticed a remarkable change in her.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She said she was like a totally different little kid. She was suddenly having really horrible behavioral problems and all sorts of issues.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And it turned out that she had an inflammatory brain disease that was affecting her in multiple ways.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And no one in their area seemed to be able to treat Emily.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It was a really rare condition.
--:-- Shamita Basu: By this time, Emily was nine years old, and a specialist recommended an infusion therapy that, according to one study, could potentially improve her symptoms significantly.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But their insurer, UnitedHealthcare, wouldn't cover it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They kept getting denial after denial for this treatment.
--:-- Shamita Basu: First, you know, they said that this treatment was out of network for their pharmacy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That was two months of delays.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Then the insurer came back and said they actually didn't think that this treatment was medically necessary.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They didn't think it was provable.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Insurance companies argue to remain solvent, they have to make calls on which types of medical care merit reimbursement and which don't.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But with rare conditions, because the number of cases are so small, it can be difficult for patients to find documentation that proves a drug or treatment works.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Paying out of pocket for Emily's treatment would have cost her family close to $36,000, much more than they could afford.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It took multiple appeals to UnitedHealthcare and a team of care providers who provided documentation to prove her treatment was necessary and urgent before the Beck family got approved.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They were just thrilled. You know they were toasting with champagne.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Even Emily really understood that it was a big moment.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She had seen her mom cry multiple times trying to get her treatment and help.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And so the next phase is actually waiting to see if it works.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Warnow put together a list of tips to make appealing a denied claim less daunting.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She said, first, research what your insurance plan covers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Take notes from any calls with insurance that you have, including the name of who you spoke to.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And she recommends acting quickly.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Many insurance companies have deadlines for filing appeals that you'll want to be aware of.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We'll link to her reporting and tips in our show notes page in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Hamas returned the bodies of four hostages today, including those who are believed to be the youngest and one of the oldest hostages.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They include the remains of Ariel and Kaffir Bibas, who were four years old and nine months old when they were taken, their mother Shiri, and 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz.
--:-- Shamita Basu: All were taken from their homes in the same kibbutz on October 7th.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Bibas family had come to symbolize the horrors suffered by those captured by Hamas after videos circulated showing Shiri clinging to her children while surrounded by militants.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Her husband, Yarden, was released alive earlier this month.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Thursday's return of remains and the freeing of six living hostages on Saturday are part of an accelerated exchange by Hamas and Israel announced earlier this week.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israel agreed to free more than 100 Palestinian prisoners and allow mobile homes and heavy trucks into Gaza to remove rubble.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On to some immigration updates.
--:-- Shamita Basu: New data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows the Trump administration is not exclusively arresting criminals as it promised to prioritize.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Data obtained by NBC reveals the number of people detained in ICE custody without a criminal conviction or pending criminal charges represent 41 percent of the total new detainees from the first two weeks of February.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And yesterday, the administration halted a program that provided lawyers to nearly 26,000 children who are immigrants.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Many of them don't have parents or legal guardians in the United States.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some are too young to read or speak.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, did you watch the hockey match between the United States and Canada on Saturday where three fights broke out during the first nine seconds?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Well, the teams will be back on the ice tonight for a rematch.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's the championship game of the Four Nations Face-Off tournament.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Athletic looks at the biggest surprises and best moments of the tournament so far and makes some predictions about which team has the edge to come out on top.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a Narrated article coming up next.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Atlantic looks at why, over the past 50 years, Americans have become less likely to move from one state to another or even one city to another, calling this the single most important social change of the past half century.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Thanks for listening to Apple News Today.
