Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

GOP Senator Apologizes After Staffer Told Cancer Survivor She's On Her Own If She Can't Afford Healthcare

GOP Senator Apologizes After Staffer Told Cancer Survivor She's On Her Own If She Can't Afford Healthcare
Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images

Republican Senator Thom Tillis has issued a public apology to a constituent after a member of his staff responded to her pleas for help with access to healthcare treatment by saying "figure [it] out."

The constituent, Bev Veals, a three-time cancer survivor, asked Tillis for help when her and her husband's healthcare coverage became threatened when her husband was furloughed due to the pandemic.


Tillis told local news station WRAL that the staffer was reprimanded.

Veals suffered medical bankruptcy and has lost healthcare coverage due to her cancer battles in the past.

Veals says shereached out to Tillis because she was terrified of losing healthcare coverage during a pandemic and wanted assurance that she would have access to care if the worst-case scenario occurred.

She ended up speaking with a Washington staffer of Tillis', whose lack of willingness to assist her led her to begin recording their phone calls.

In the recording, Veals is heard asking the staffer to clarify that if a person cannot afford healthcare, they are not entitled to access ot it.

The staffer responds:

"Yeah, just like if I want to go to the store and buy a new dress shirt. If I can't afford that dress shirt, I don't get to get it."

When Veals insists healthcare is something every person needs, especially when they have cancer, the staffer doubles down.

"Well, you got to find a way to get it."

Unable to hide the shock and anger in her voice, Veals asks the staffer:

"So what do I do in the meantime, sir?"

To which the staffer responds:

"Sounds like something you're going to have to figure it out."

WRAL sent Veals's recording to Tillis' office, but Tillis declined to give an interview.

Instead, a spokesperson, Daniel Keylin, submitted a statement with an apology.

"The way Mrs. Veals was talked to by a staff assistant in our Washington office was completely inappropriate and violates the code of conduct Senator Tillis has for his staff, which is why immediate disciplinary action has been taken."

But Veals is not satisfied with a mere statement.

She wants, in essence, for her elected officials to do what they were sent to Washington to do—help their constituents.

As she told WRAL:

"We need our legislators to listen to us and help us solve this problem because it's not just my problem--not being able to afford health care. It's the problem of hundreds and thousands of North Carolinians."

On Twitter, people were outraged.



Many pointed out that staffer's response was 100% on-brand for the GOP when it comes to healthcare.




And virtually no one was buying the apology.



Many others felt the scandal was reflective of why Tillis is presently badly losing his reelection bid.


Veals said she and her husband are using up their savings to pay for health insurance while they wait and hope for her husband to be sent back to work.

Tillis' is considered one of the most vulnerable Republican Senate seats in the November election.

More from News

Donald Trump
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Fox News Just Listed Off Trump's 'Accomplishments' So Far—And They're Completely Bananas

As shown during coverage of a cabinet meeting when members spent time telling the President how great he is, MAGA Republican President Donald Trump's biggest priority is Donald Trump's image and ego.

Also caught on video was Trump telling a Fox News correspondent to make sure the network praised his cabinet meeting.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Donald Trump and Terry Moran
ABC News

Trump Bizarrely Clashes With Reporter Over Photoshopped 'Tattoo' On Abrego Garcia's Knuckles

President Donald Trump sparked criticism after claiming during an interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran that an edited photo depicting tattoos of wrongly-deported Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia showed that he has an alleged connection to the MS-13 gang.

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who arrived in the U.S. in 2012, was labeled a threat in 2019 due to an alleged connection to MS-13. He spent months in detention before an immigration judge found he had a credible fear of persecution—not from MS-13, but from a rival group, Barrio 18, which he said had been extorting his family.

Keep ReadingShow less
Karoline Leavitt; Jeff Bezos
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images; Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Leavitt Lashes Out At Amazon Over 'Hostile' Plan To Display Added Tariff Costs For Products On Website

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt lashed out at Amazon over news that the commerce giant planned to display increased "import charges" on items on their Amazon Haul website, essentially showing to customers the extra money they'd have to shell out as a result of President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Trump has escalated a growing trade war by imposing tariffs of up to 145% on Chinese imports, prompting China to retaliate with its own 125% tariffs on American goods. Additionally, the U.S. has slapped a 10% tax on imports from most other countries, while temporarily suspending higher rates for several nations for 90 days.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Canadian voter
CNN

Canadian Voter's Epic Take On Trump In Viral Interview Clip Has The Internet Cheering

A Canadian woman has gone viral following her NSFW interview with CNN in which she explained that her decision of whom to support for prime minister In Monday's election was based primarily on who could "take care of" President Donald Trump, who had threatened Canadian sovereignty amid an ongoing trade war.

In the end, Canadian voters returned the Liberal Party to power for a fourth consecutive term, although Prime Minister Mark Carney will lead a minority government, according to projections from CNN’s broadcast partner CBC.

Keep ReadingShow less
man and woman with cardboard boxes on their heads with faces drawn on them
julio andres rosario ortiz on Unsplash

People Describe The Most Unhinged Things They've Seen Someone Do In Public

One person's "most unhinged thing they've ever seen" is another person's everyday occurrence. It's all about perspective.

If you live 24/7 in an insane environment, unhinged starts to seem completely normal.

Keep ReadingShow less