Craig Moody was inspired to create Shoot 360 by his son. Courtesy of Craig Moody
Craig Moody developed Shoot 360 after watching his son choose video games over basketball.
For six years, Moody ran a production company while also developing Shoot 360.
Moody’s says the business with outside investors is too big to manage with the family alone.
Told this essay is based on a conversation with Craig Moody, Founder and Chairman of ShThe text360. This has been edited for length and clarity.
About 15 years ago, my son was sitting at home playing a basketball video game. I said to him, “Why don’t you go outside and play?” I grew up shooting and coaching, and I could not imagine that he would enjoy playing basketball on screen.
I walked out of my game room thinking, “If I could make a gym like a video game, I could make it happen.”
This idea stuck with me. I did more research, and one morning I woke up and said to my wife, “I think I’ve found it.” I rented a warehouse and started building Shoot360 that night.
My father was an entrepreneur, and I learned from him
I was already familiar with entrepreneurship. My father was a contractor who ran several businesses. He owned an equipment rental yard that he developed into a regional chain and later sold to a national chain. I followed in his footsteps and was running a construction company.
When you work for yourself, there are no limits to what you can do. People would say it was the American dream – and I have always loved the freedom of it. Whether it’s building or gaming, the ability to go out on my own and create something that I think is special really appeals to me.
I ran both companies for 6 years
I launched Shoot 360 in 2012. In the first few years, growth was slow. I was developing a way to bring together physical hoops and balls with digital tracking and gamification in a way that would appeal to the younger generation.
I hired people to help with this and ploughed any profits back into the company. I kept my production company running to cover my expenses. Doing both was time-consuming: I was logging 16-hour days, seven days a week.
By 2018, Shoot 360 was beginning to grow significantly. I closed my construction company rather than selling it because I didn’t have an opportunity to manage the change. Shoot 360 was expanding very rapidly.
My kids understand business better than me in some ways
All three of my kids love basketball and have been involved in the business since the beginning. I had been working long days, but the kids were in the gym with me, testing the product. They were passionate about business, and it wove itself into the fabric of our lives.
Shoot 360 projects revenue of approximately $20 million in 2025. Courtesy of Craig Moody
When they went to college and started studying business, they realised how much opportunity we had. He has deep respect for what I’ve done, but he argues that he understands the business better than I do.
In a way, they are right. Shoot 360 is a technique based on video game culture. My kids understand what motivates people in the gaming world, and getting their input is an advantage.
I don’t plan to leave the business for my children
Today, all three of my children – now 31, 29 and 23 – are working in the business. When I started working for my father, I started at the grassroots level. Before helping run things I was washing equipment and managing the rental counter.
I’m taking the same approach with my kids. I’ve started them at the bottom and worked my way up. Being in different roles helps them find their area of talent.
Although we all work together, we will not pass Shoot 360 on to the next generation. Once you bring in outside investors, you’re giving up some of that traditional family business structure.
Last year, Shoot 360 made nearly $20 million in revenue. To grow this business and make the greatest impact on the basketball community, we will keep it outside the scope of the family business. Really, it already is.
In July 2023, the presidents of Poland and Ukraine commemorated the victims of a wave of violence that left tens of thousands of people dead during World War II.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Andrzej Duda, then Poland’s president, knelt side by side and placed candles in front of a memorial near the altar of a church in Lutsk, the capital of the Volyn region in northwestern Ukraine. In their social media posts, both individuals sent a positive message:
That proposition is being put to a tough test three years later, as a rekindled dispute over what Poland calls the Volhynian Massacre and Ukraine calls the Volyn Tragedy rocks relations between the neighbours and risks repercussions for Kyiv’s defence against Russia and for Ukraine’s EU integration.
The fuel for the flare-up was Zelenskyy’s decision in May to give a military unit a name honouring the “Heroes of the UPA” — the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which Poland says massacred some 100,000 Poles in the area, then under German control, in 1943-45, killings that Poland’s parliament has designated a genocide.
Ukraine rejects that designation and says Ukrainians also faced hatred from Poles. Thousands of Ukrainians were killed in reprisals.
The UPA was the military arm of nationalist resistance leader Stepan Bandera’s Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and fought against Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union at different times during the war. The groups are accused of carrying out murderous campaigns against Poles and Jews.
But many Ukrainians hail them as freedom fighters — a perception that has widened as the country tries to fight off a Russian invasion 35 years after it won independence from Moscow as the Soviet Union collapsed.
Poland, steeped in its own painful memories of the Nazi-Soviet invasion in 1939 and decades of dominance by Moscow after World War II, has been one of Ukraine’s strongest backers since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
‘Strategic Mistake’
As Zelenskyy’s appearance with Duda in 2023 indicated, both countries had largely managed to avoid historical tensions. But now, the public spat is injecting poison into bilateral relations and raising the prospect of broader problems at a crucial time.
“Wading into a conflict between politicians in Poland and Ukraine is a strategic mistake that will harm both sides: business-wise, geopolitically, and reputationally,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned in a post on X last month.
Ukraine may have more to lose.
“Ukraine risks seriously hurting its support from Poland,” Lucian Kim, senior Ukraine analyst at the International Crisis Group, told RFE/RL, stressing that this support is “crucial” for several reasons.
“Western military aid for Ukraine goes through Poland. Poland hosts 1 million Ukrainian refugees,” Kim said. “Polish support will also be necessary for Ukraine’s European Union aspirations.”
Polish President Karol Nawrocki (left) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Warsaw late last year.
The key players in the dispute are Zelenskyy and Duda’s successor, Polish President Karol Nawrocki, a populist historian who is the former director of a World War II museum and was heading the Institute of National Remembrance when the conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) tapped him as its candidate in the 2025 election.
On June 19, Nawrocki announced he was stripping Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state honour, over his “Heroes of the UPA” decision.
Zelenskyy returned the medal to Poland, and three of his predecessors who had received the same award — Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko — followed suit. Then, on June 28, he submitted legislation to parliament for the creation of a National Pantheon honouring key figures in Ukraine’s history, warning that “no one will ever tell us…which heroes to honour.”
A spokesman for Nawrocki, who had said Poland “must not remain indifferent to the affirmation of symbols of crime,” called the pantheon bill “the next stage of escalation.”
Campaign Trail
While rooted in bloodshed that occurred over 80 years ago, the spike in tensions stems in large part from domestic political considerations in both Ukraine and Poland, analysts and observers said.
In Poland, the dispute is part of a “pre-electoral environment” in which “the Ukraine factor can be used to win votes,” an EU official told RFE/RL, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject.
The opposition PiS is seeking to gain ground against Tusk’s more Ukraine-friendly Civic Coalition, which drove it from power in 2024, ahead of parliamentary elections that must be held by November 2027.
The dispute over the World War II-era killings could enable Nawrocki and the PiS to tap into substantial anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland, stoked by resentment over the influx of Ukrainians displaced by the Russian invasion. Opinion polls indicate that acceptance of Ukrainian refugees has declined dramatically as the war has dragged on.
In Ukraine, martial law has barred elections since the start of the full-scale invasion. But the prospect of a presidential vote in the not-so-distant future has loomed large amid intermittent external pressure and concerns among some Ukrainians over Zelenskyy’s seven-year grip on power. While his approval ratings remain strong, a kind of shadow campaign pitting Zelenskyy against potential rivals is underway.
“What’s clear is that Zelenskyy was acting purely on domestic motivation and was not considering how it might come across outside Ukraine,” Kim said of the decision to bestow the “Heroes of the UPA” name on a special operations unit of the armed forces.
“Zelenskyy is certainly wrapping himself in the cloak of Ukrainian nationalism and taking positions that he may not have taken earlier,” he said, adding that the Russian invasion has made forces like the UPA less controversial than they previously were inside Ukraine.
When Zelenskyy ran for president in 2019, “historical issues [and] the past were of no importance to him,” Ihor Hryniv, a political strategist who headed then-incumbent President Petro Poroshenko’s campaign headquarters in that election, told RFE/RL.
‘The Problems Ahead’
Now, Hryniv said, he is playing to the portion of the electorate that did not vote for him in 2019 and for whom historical memory is important — in part because his most prominent potential rivals “are all perceived as more patriotic than Zelenskyy himself”.
As a result, he argued, Zelenskyy now “sometimes runs faster than society itself” on issues involving nationalist figures of the past, and he “does not know the problems that may arise with neighbours or in Ukraine itself.”
Revoking Zelenskyy’s Order of the White Eagle “does not signify a change in the strategic direction of Polish security policy,” Nawrocki said in his announcement. “We have supported and continue to support Ukraine because we know that Russian aggression poses a threat to the security of Poland and all of Europe.”
But he warned that Ukraine’s EU path “requires a willingness to honestly confront the difficult chapters of its own history.
“A united Europe was built on the rejection of totalitarianism and the cult of violence. These principles must apply to everyone. For those who do not understand these principles, there can be no place in the European Union, and Poland will certainly not allow it,” Nawrocki said.
Asked if the dispute with Poland would affect Ukraine’s EU prospects, the EU official who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “Short term, no. Long term, possibly very much.”
Poland, one of the EU’s 27 members, recently gave its consent for the opening of a “cluster” of negotiation “chapters” for Ukraine next week, moving the painstaking process forward. But the official said that opening further clusters and closing chapters – that is, reaching agreement on them – might be difficult.
Whether or not the current dispute slows Ukraine’s path to the EU, Kim said, “it highlights the problems ahead” – problems that pertain to the present and the future rather than the past.
Polish farmers’ fears that Ukrainian supplies could put them out of business have led to protests, and Polish truckers have similar concerns about their livelihoods if Ukraine joins – worries that are shared in other countries in the region.
So far, there’s no sign that the flare-up between Kyiv and Warsaw will bleed into sometimes volatile US-Ukrainian relations or affect US President Donald Trump’s efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Trump praised Nawrocki at a meeting with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Turkey on July 8, but he didn’t mention the historical dispute.
Escalation Or De-Escalation
There have been efforts to de-escalate.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha met with his Polish counterpart, Radoslaw Sikorski, in Warsaw on July 3, where he proposed “a package of anti-crisis steps,” including meetings between diplomats and historians and outreach to religious leaders “to leverage their authority.” It was unclear if any agreements were reached.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) and Polish President Karol Nawrocki on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Ankara on July 8.
For the first time since the spat erupted, Zelenskyy and Nawrocki met for about an hour on July 8 on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Ankara. Nawrocki said they were “unable to resolve the historical issues,” but he suggested that he expected them to remain unresolved.
Zelenskyy called it an “important and necessary conversation,” and both presidents said that Russia is a common threat.
Tension persisted ahead of Poland’s annual commemoration of the victims on July 11. Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, former Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, asserted in an interview with news outlet RBC-Ukraine earlier this week that he had information indicating that Poland was “preparing a whole series of…escalatory steps” and that the tension was likely to continue. He did not provide details or evidence.
While analysts say Zelenskyy may not have realised that naming a military unit after “Heroes of the UPA” would make waves outside Ukraine, Kyiv’s success in fighting Russian forces to a near standstill in a war many initially believed Ukraine would lose quickly may have bolstered his confidence, and that of other senior officials, on the world stage.
“Ukraine will not accept ultimatums from anyone in the world. The last [country] that tried to give us an ultimatum was the Russian Federation,” Budanov said. “No offence to Poland, but [Russia] is a little more powerful than Poland…. Do not speak to us with ultimatums.”
Lottie Woad made a strong start to her bid for a first major title at the Amundi Evian Championship, as Nelly Korda struggled on the opening day in France.
Wood, who finished third in last year’s event as an amateur, posted a final-hole eagle, carding a four-under 67 at Evian Resort Golf Club to stay within four shots of Japan’s Aki Iwai.
Awai posted eight birdies in a bogey-free 63 to take a three-shot clubhouse lead, tied for second with former major champion Mao Saigo and KPMG Women’s PGA Championship winner Hiran Ryu Jin Hye-um.
Wood is joined in the group at four under by former major winners Rongning Yen and Brooke Henderson, while world No. 1 Korda, who could complete the career Grand Slam with a victory, stumbled to an opening-round 74.
former Evian Championship winner Ayaka Fury
Charlie Hill is among the afternoon starters, alongside Lydia Coe and world No. 2 Gino Thetkol, while defending champion Grace Kim, former Evian Championship winner Ayaka Fury, and Celine Bottier are among the later starters.
Korda is struggling while Wood makes a strong start.
Markey, along with Wood, Korda and Reeve, started the morning three-ball on the back nine, birdied the 11th hole and picked up shots on the 15th and 18th to reach the turn in 33.
She combined back-to-back gains from the second to briefly move into the lead but bogeyed her next two holes, with Wood falling further behind when she failed to get up and down from the green at the eighth.
Wood responded by reaching the ninth green in par five and holing a 20-foot eagle putt, lifting him to four under, combining six birdies with a lone bogey in his opening-round 66 with playing partner Reeve to take a shot closer to the lead.
Image: Nellie Korda, playing alongside Wood, has already won the Chevron Championship and the US Women’s Open this season.
“Pleased,” Wood said. “I played well from tee to green for most of the day. I was five under and hitting pretty well, but this golf course can take you places if you miss some fairways, and I finished with a good eagle.
Korda – chasing his third major win of the season – was one under after eight holes, but he dropped five shots in a six-hole stretch around the turn, including a double bogey on the first, before making a final-hole birdie to leave him 11 shots off the early lead.
Should surgeons be allowed to euthanise patients by removing their hearts and other organs while they are still alive?
The idea, called “death by organ donation,” would enable euthanasia patients to donate their organs for transplantation in a way that would make them more likely to be usable. Due to this procedure he will also die.
“It would be an ethical thing to do because it’s something patients have chosen for themselves,” says Dr Robert Truog, a physician and bioethicist at Harvard Medical School who co-authored the paper ‘Outline of death by organ donation’ in the New England Journal of Medicine. “He has thought very generously: ‘How can my death help other people?’ This is a very charitable, generous act.”
But the idea is controversial for several reasons, including that it goes against the fundamental principles that have guided organ donation for decades. The deceased donor rule requires that the patient be dead before any organs can be removed. Doctors cannot even kill the patient during the organ removal process.
This rule has long generated intense debate, including controversy over how to accurately determine when a person has died, as well as the development of new methods to extend the lives of dying patients. Recover usable organs for transplant.
At the same time, many countries, including Canada, the Netherlands and Spain, have made it legal for doctors to help patients die through euthanasia.
“What if they chose to become an organ donor? The problem is that under current standards doctors are not supposed to cause death in the process of procuring organs for transplant,” Truog says.
Therefore, hearts, lungs, livers and kidneys can be removed from euthanised patients only after they have received lethal doses of drugs, making their organs, especially their hearts, much less useful for transplantation.
“Why wouldn’t it be OK for patients to say, ‘I choose to die by lethal injection? Is there no way I can help others?’ They should be able to donate organs as a permanent gift to others. And they don’t see any point in denying them that option,” Truog says. “I would say a more appropriate framework is that patients who wish to die by euthanasia can also combine euthanasia with organ donation.”
A “scary idea” that may have merit
In euthanasia, doctors administer lethal medicines that cause the death of the patient. The practice is illegal in the US, but a growing number of states have legalised assisted suicide, in which doctors give patients lethal drugs to take at home.
Instead of a doctor giving a patient a lethal drug, organ donation would end the lives of dying patients by anaesthetising them and then removing their organs while they were still working.
“So the organs will still be in ideal condition,” Truog says.
says, “The idea of death by donation is very disturbing at first. It’s a scary thought.” Ruth Faden: A bioethicist at Johns Hopkins University. But if you look at it critically in terms of fundamental ethical considerations, it’s not as troubling as it first seems.
She explains that the prevalence and acceptance of euthanasia, along with the willingness of some patients to become organ donors, is the reason.
Faden states, “If we are committed to respecting the autonomy of individuals at the end of their lives, we must also ensure that their choices are honoured and supported.” And if they choose to maximise their well-being at the end of their lives, that is a moral justification for death by donation. She says it will be important to implement strong safeguards to ensure full informed consent and protect patients from abuse.
A change could undermine patient trust
But some other bioethicists are horrified by the mere notion.
“This procedure is asking surgeons to take a living person into the operating room and bring a dead person out, which I think is murder,” says Lanny Friedman Ross, a bioethicist at the University of Rochester. “There are certain limits to consent. And one of the things we’re not allowed to do is consenting to say someone else can murder you.”
Others worry that this approach will undermine trust in both organ donation and end-of-life care at a time when some potential donors are already wary. There are controversies about this organ procurement effort.
“You can do real harm to both the physician-assisted suicide system and the organ donation system,” says Lori Andrews, a bioethicist and professor emerita at Chicago-Kent College of Law. “This approach may give people the image that these are vultures who don’t wait until you’re dead to attack. It harkens back to the philosophy of body snatchers of previous centuries.”
Critics also fear that allowing death by donation for euthanasia patients may someday mean that it will be an acceptable practice for physician-assisted suicide patients and even potentially hospice patients.
But others argue that this approach may currently be considered for at least some euthanised patients.
“If there are people who want to donate organs, such an approach would be a way to maximise their wishes and their altruistic goal of helping others,” says co-author Dr Carter Winberg, a Canadian critical care physician working on a master’s degree in bioethics at Harvard. New England Journal of Medicine paper. These are people who are already consenting to voluntary euthanasia and organ donation. It requires a new conversation about whether this is pthe practicebly ethical.”
Sir Keir Starmer is said to be taking a bank holiday if England wins the World Cup.
To celebrate his first win in 60 years, the prime minister has hinted at a day off for the country, but he is not expected to confirm any plans until the final.
It is believed that the bank holiday could be on Friday, July 24, giving the team plenty of time to recover from the final match last Sunday.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the NATO summit on Wednesday, Sir Kerr said, “I would rather not spoil it, but ask me again if we’ve reached the final.”
After a 3-2 win over Mexico, England are set for a quarter-final clash with Norway in Miami on Saturday.
Keir Starmer and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stover at the NATO summit in Ankara (A.P)
Should England win, they will face either Argentina or Switzerland in Atlanta on July 15.
Speaking from Ankara, Turkey, Sir Kerr hailed Monday’s win over Mexico as “one of England’s best performances.”
He jokingly reminded Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre that England only won the World Cup under a Labour government.
“I’m a good friend of his,” he told reporters.
“Norway-UK relations are as strong as they have ever been, and he is a key figure in the alliances we are building.
But for 90 minutes on Saturday evening, we must go our separate ways as we enter this match.
England have not won the World Cup in 60 years. (PA Wire)
He said he had resisted calls to try to overturn Jeral Kwanza’s red card against Mexico after Donald Trump persuaded FIFA to suspend American player Fowlerin Balogan’s ban and allow him to play against Belgium.
“I can’t tell you how many messages I received asking me to take back the red card I got early Monday,” he said.
“I hasten to add, I have not attempted to do so.”
Many English fans were left disappointed after a bank holiday was announced in Scotland in June to mark the country’s appearance in the men’s football finals for the first time in decades.
King Charles approved the proposal, put forward by First Minister John Sweeney, who wanted to allow the Scots to celebrate the Great Return.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she would “probably not” support a bank holiday if England won the World Cup.
“Sadly, we all know what happens with a bank holiday: the private sector will still be working, while the public sector takes the day off, and you’ll all have to pay the price.”
A new women’s champion will be crowned at Wimbledon after defeating Iga Świątek and second seed Elina Rybakina, followed by Naomi Osaka’s stunning straight-sets victory over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
With Barbora Krejcikova also knocked out before the quarter-finals, Wimbledon will crown a 10th different women’s champion in 10 years, with Coco Goff taking on Karolina Muchova as both players look to reach their first final at the All England Club.
Meanwhile, reigning men’s champion and top seed Janic Sinner is gathering form after a slow start at the Championships and will face Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals as the 39-year-old bids for a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title.
On the men’s side, Wildcard has reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon for the first time since 2014, with Britain’s Arthur Ferry opening a clash with ninth seed Flavio Cobolli and defeating Grigor Dimitrov in five sets.
Follow the progress of the top players with our seed tracker here:
The seeds of men
During the quarter finals
Junk Sinner (ITA) – ✅ Novak Djokovic is playing. [7] In the semi-finals
Alexander Zverev (GER) – Taylor plays Fritz [6] (USA) in the quarterfinals
Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) ❌ – Knocked out in the quarterfinals by Novak Djokovic [7] (SRB) – 7-6 (10), 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (10-4)
Ben Shelton (USA) ❌ – 1st round knockout by Otto Virtanen: 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(8), 2-6, 7-6(9)
Alex De Manor (AUS) – ❌ Fourth-round knockout by Flavio Coboli [9] (ITA) 7-5 7-6 6-3
Taylor Fritz (USA) – Alexander Zverev plays [2] (GER) in the quarter-finals
Novak Djokovic (SRB) – ✅ Jannik plays Sinner. [1] (ITA) in the semifinals
Daniil Medvedev – ❌ Knocked out by Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 (4) 7-6 (5) 7-5 in the third round
Flavio Coboli (ITA) – Plays Arthur Fairey. [WC] (GBR) in the quarter-finals
Alexander Boblik (KAZwas knocked out by Taylor Fritz (USA) in the 4th round, with scores of), 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-4.
Casper Ruud (NOR) ❌ – Knocked out in the first round by Hubert Hurkacz 4-6, 2-6, 6-7(7)
Andrey Rublev ❌ – 1st round knockout by Roman Cefalin (Q): 4-6, 7-6(6) 6-3 3-6 6-7 (12)
Jerry Lahika (CZE) – ❌ Knocked out in the 4th round by Alexander Zuriev [2] (GER) 6-4 7-5 3-6 7-6
Luciano Darderi (ITA) ❌ – Knocked out in the first round by Ethan Quinn 7-6, 7-5, 6-2
Jakub Mensik (CZE) ❌ – Knocked out by Grigor Dimitrov in the second round (7-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4)
Lerner Tyne (USA) ❌ – Knocked out Martin Foxx 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 in the second round
Frances Tiafoe (USA) ❌ – Knocked out by Alexander Boblik in the third round. [10] (KAZ) 4-6 7-6 7-6 4-6 6-3
Francisco Cerundolo (ARG)❌ Knocked out Jaume Munnar 6-1 6-4 6-3 in the first round
Karen Khachanov – ❌ Knocked out Flavio Cobolli 0-6, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-2 in the third round.
Arthur Fils (FRA) ❌ – Knocked out by Matteo Berrettini in the second round 6-4 7-5 3-6 6-3
Tommy Paul (USA) – ❌ Knocked out by Hubert Hurkacz (POL) 4-6 7-6 7-5 6-2 in the third round
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP) – ❌ Knocked out in the fourth round by Felix Auger-Eliasime [3] (CAN) 6-7 7-6 6-3 3-6 6-1
Rafael Joder (ESP) – ❌ Knocked out by Shintaro Mochizuki (Q) (JPN) 1-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round
Joao Fonseca (BRA) – ❌ Knocked out by Roman Safiullin (Q) 6-3 6-3 6-3 in the third round
Arthur Rinderkinch (FRA) – ❌ Knocked out by Novak Djokovic [7] (SRB) 7-5 6-4 1-6 7-6 in the third round
Cameron Norrie (GBR) ❌ Knocked out Michael Zeng (Q) 6-7, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 in first round
Ugo Humbert (FRA) ❌ Knocked out by Zizou Bergs 6-2 7-5 4-6 3-6 6-3
Brandon Nakashima (USA) ❌ Knocked out Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 6-7(7) in second round
Tomas Martin Etcheverry (ARG) ❌ Knocked out in first round by Lorenzo Sonego 4-6 4-6 7-6(2) 6-7(4)
Alejandro Tabilo (CHI) ❌ Knocked out by Kamil Macerzak 6-3 7-5 7-5 in the first round
Ignacio Buse (PER) ❌ Knocked out by Jenson Brooksby 6-2 6-2 6-3 in the second round
Matteo Arnaldi (ITA) ❌ Knocked out in the first round by Quentin Halys 6-3, 1-6, 6-7(5), 3-6
Janek Snr defeated Carlos Alcaraz in last year’s final. (PA Wire)Iga Swiatek was the defending women’s champion but was knocked out by Alexandra Ella. (Getty)
Female seeds
During the quarter finals
Aryna Sabalenka – ❌ Knocked out in the fourth round by Naomi Osaka [14] (JPN) 6-2 7-6
Elena Rybakina (KAZ) – ❌ Knocked out in the third round by Elise Mertens [25] (BEL) 7-6, 6-1
Iga Swiatek (POL) – ❌ Knocked out Alexandra Ayala in the third round. [29] (PHI) 7-6 6-2
Jessica Pegula (USA) – ❌ Knocked out in the quarterfinals by Coco Gauff [7] (USA) 4-6 6-3 6-3
Mirra Andreeva ❌ Knocked out by Barbora Krejkova 4-6 7-5 6-4 in the second round
Amanda Anisimova (USA) – ❌ Knocked out in the third round by Madison Keys [26] 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
Coco Gauff (USA) – ✅ Karolina plays the role of Mochowa. [10] (CZE) in semi-finals
Elina Svitolina (UKR) ❌ – knocked out in the first round by Daria Snigur 5-7 2-6
Linda Noskova (CZE) – plays Elise Mertens [25] (BEL) in the quarter-finals
Karolina Muchova (CZE) – ✅ Coco plays Gauff (USA) in the semi-finals [7].
Belinda Bencic (SUI) – ❌ Knocked out in the fourth round by Coco Gauff [7] (USA) 4-6 6-3 6-4
Marta Kostyuk (UKR) – Jasmine plays Paolini [13] (ITA) in the quarterfinals
Jasmine Paolini (ITA) – Marta plays Kostivka. [12] (UKR) in the quarter-finals
Naomi Osaka (JPN) – ❌ Knocked out in the quarterfinals by Karolina Mochowa (CZE). [10] 7-6 6-4
Diana Schneider ❌ – knocked out Lyudmila Samsonova 4-6, 6-4, 2-6 in the second round
WASHINGTON — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had targeted US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait in response to the latest US military strikes against Iran.
Air raid sirens sounded in both countries, with Kuwait saying its air defences were responding to hostile missile and drone threats. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry urged residents to seek shelter after it activated warning sirens.
The United States launched a new round of military strikes against Iran and revoked a key sanctions waiver covering Iranian oil sales after accusing Tehran of attacking commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, putting a fragile cease-fire into peril.
The twin moves mark the most serious crisis since the United States and Iran signed a 60-day memorandum of understanding (MOU) last month aimed at ending hostilities and reopening one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints.
The US military said the strikes were a direct response to what it described as Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, including a Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker.
“The attacks were designed to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.” US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement, calling Iran’s actions “unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire.”
Iranian media reported multiple explosions in southern Iran, including on Qeshm Island, in the city of Sirik, and near the strategic port of Bandar Abbas. US officials did not immediately specify which targets had been struck.
The military action came as President Donald Trump attended the NATO summit in Ankara, where he was set to meet with fellow NATO leaders to discuss the Iran crisis, defence spending, and the alliance’s security priorities.
Washington Restores Economic Pressure
Alongside the military strikes, the US Treasury revoked its authorisation for Iranian oil sales, restoring sanctions relief that had been suspended under last month’s memorandum of understanding.
A US official told RFE/RL the decision reflected the administration’s long-standing position that any economic relief depended on Iranian compliance.
“As President Trump and the administration have repeatedly affirmed, the MOU in effect with Iran is entirely performance-based. Iran will only reap benefits if they exhibit good behaviour,” the official said.
The United States found Iran’s actions in the Strait wholly unacceptable and will impose consequences. Our negotiators are still working towards a final deal.
The waiver, originally scheduled to remain in force until August 21, had permitted limited Iranian crude exports and certain financial transactions as part of efforts to stabilise shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
According to maritime security officials, three commercial vessels came under attack during the latest incidents, including the Qatari LNG carrier Al Rekayyat, whose crew reportedly issued a distress call after a drone struck near its engine room.
The Joint Maritime Information Center subsequently raised the threat level for commercial shipping in the Hormuz Strait to “severe.”
Regional governments swiftly condemned the attacks.
Qatar called the strike on one of its vessels a “serious and explicit violation” of international law and said Iran would bear full legal responsibility. Saudi Arabia similarly accused Tehran of threatening international navigation and global energy supplies.
Iran Accuses US of Breaking Agreement
Tehran rejected Washington’s justification, accusing the United States of repeatedly violating the ceasefire framework.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said that revoking the suspension of sanctions on Iranian oil sales breached Paragraph 10 of what it called the “Islamabad Understanding,” signed on June 18.
In a strongly worded statement, the ministry said the United States had committed “both minor and major violations” of the agreement over the past three weeks.
It warned that Iran would “take whatever measures it deems necessary to safeguard its national interests and security” and held Washington responsible for “the consequences of this breach of commitment.”
Iran also continues to argue that the memorandum gave Tehran, in consultation with Oman, primary responsibility for reopening and managing shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian officials have defended proposals to charge vessels for maritime security services, arguing that protecting navigation carries significant costs.
Western governments and shipping interests, however, have rejected any compulsory transit fees, warning they could resemble coercive payments rather than legitimate maritime services.
Risks To Diplomacy
Analysts say revoking the sanctions waiver increases pressure on Tehran but also risks undermining the fragile diplomatic framework before negotiations have concluded.
Brett Erickson, a sanctions expert at Obsidian Risk Advisors, questioned whether cancelling the waiver delivers meaningful economic leverage.
“The evidence simply didn’t support the fear. During the life of General License X, Iran moved tens of millions of barrels of oil, but we never saw a wave of new buyers outside of China,” Erickson told RFE/RL.
“The economic concession turned out to be relatively modest. Revoking it now risks collapsing the entire Memorandum of Understanding over a benefit that never proved particularly significant.”
Zineb Riboua, a research fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, told RFE/RL the administration may be using the waiver as additional negotiating leverage rather than abandoning diplomacy altogether.
She said disputes over frozen Iranian assets have remained unresolved throughout negotiations and suggested the latest move could be intended to strengthen Washington’s bargaining position before the 60-day negotiating period expires.
Riboua cautioned, however, that the strategy carries significant risks, particularly for global energy markets.
While additional pressure could influence negotiations, she warned that continued instability in the Strait of Hormuz would keep insurance costs elevated and could reignite inflationary pressures in Europe and elsewhere through higher energy prices.
Iran is staging a massive, weeklong funeral procession across the country to mourn long-time Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the outset of the war with the United States and Israel.
Drawing hundreds of thousands of people, the extravagant public events have been used by the authorities to project strength and unity, even as they face widespread discontent over a deepening economic crisis and a widening crackdown on dissent.
State media has used the high turnout for Khamenei’s mass funeral as proof of what they claim to be the popularity and legitimacy of Iran’s clerical rulers. But some inside the country — and several media outlets abroad — have reported pressure on workers and businesses to take part in the ceremonies, raising questions about the true situation.
Khamenei, who ruled Iran for more than three decades, was succeeded as supreme leader by his son, Mojtaba, who has not been seen in public since his appointment.
“A referendum was held; all you have to do is look at the streets,” wrote Mehr News Agency, a conservative outlet.
“Didn’t you ask for a referendum?” read the editorial by Mehr, addressing critics of the authorities who have long called for a referendum on major political issues in the country. “A referendum is not only held at the ballot box.”
The same arguments were made by other state-run outlets, including the official news agency IRNA, the conservative newspaper Farhikhtegan, and Fars News Agency, which is affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Iran has been rocked by a spate of mass protests in recent years, most recently in January, and has faced growing calls for a referendum and a new constitution.
But Iranian leaders, including Khamenei when he was alive, rejected holding a popular vote on domestic, economic, and foreign policy matters to resolve public discontent in the country. The January unrest saw a security crackdown that killed thousands.
Keyhan, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by the supreme leader, wrote in a July 7 editorial that there was no need for a vote because turnouts at state-sponsored events serve as a “permanent referendum” on the Islamic republic.
‘Regime Propaganda’
For the families of Iranians who have suffered at the hands of the authorities, the funeral conveys a different message.
They say Khamenei’s extravagant burial procession highlights the impunity of the perpetrators of state violence, not national unity.
“I’m horrified by the presence of some ordinary people at Khamenei’s funeral procession,” said Mihan Rusta, whose husband, Reza Esmati, was executed in 1988 during the mass executions of political prisoners.
“The presence of politicians doesn’t horrify me — that’s their job. But the people’s presence gives this regime the power to carry out the criminal acts it has committed until now,” she told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.
Others drew a direct line between their own suppressed mourning and the spectacle of Khamenei’s funeral, which the war delayed for months.
Soran Mansurnia’s brother, Borhan, was shot dead during the November 2019 protests in the western city of Kermanshah.
“The Islamic republic hasn’t just killed our loved one. It has always prevented us from mourning him publicly,” he told Radio Farda. “When I compare this funeral to my experience, I see nothing but discrimination.”
The funeral also appears, at least for a few days, to cover the broad discontent over the regime’s handling of the economy, which is in such tatters that it sparked the mass protests at the start of the year before they grew into a full-on antigovernment movement that rocked the country’s leadership.
The family of Mohammad Erfan Faraji, who was shot dead during protests in the capital, Tehran, in January, called Khamenei’s funeral “regime propaganda”.
His uncle, Majid Moqaddasi, said the families of victims of state violence have been unable to hold funerals of their own either due to financial constraints or government pressure.
“Watching these lavish ceremonies is very bitter,” he told Radio Farda.
Any large earthquake can be dangerous, but the residents of Caracas and Venezuelan coastal cities like La Guaira and Catia La Mar were victims of several unlucky factors.
Two quakes in rapid succession, a fault that ruptured toward more populated areas, soft ground and the shallow depth of the tremors all combined to make the June 24 disaster especially severe, even for areas that were miles away from the epicentre.
Here is what made it so deadly.
The “doublet”
First, and most important: there was not one earthquake but two, separated by just 39 seconds. Seismologists call this a “doublet”.
The first was smaller, measuring 7.2 in magnitude; the second was much more powerful, measuring 7.5.
The doublet meant that buildings had to withstand chaotic shaking for far longer than they would have in an ordinary earthquake.
“Almost certainly, what happened was that the first earthquake triggered the second one,” said David Oglesby, a professor of geophysics at the University of California, Riverside.
The earthquakes left over 2,200 people dead, according to the Venezuelan government. Over 400 buildings were destroyed, and hundreds more were damaged.
The direction
Seismic waves from the first quake radiated outward in all directions. But it was the waves travelling east that eventually reached a point on the San Sebastián fault that was ready to slip. That set off the second earthquake. The rupture continued east — more than 100 miles toward Caracas, the capital.
“There were two directions this fault could have gone,” said William Barnhart, a geophysicist in the earthquake hazards program of the United States Geological Survey. “It could have gone to the west or the east toward Caracas. They would have been lucky if it had gone the other direction.”
The initial rupture occurred on what is known as the Boconó fault, part of the system that produced a tremendous earthquake in the 19th century, Dr Barnhart said.
Satellite imagery shows that the second quake then travelled east along a well-known seam between two of Earth’s tectonic plates — the San Sebastián fault.
“We know that the fault extended as far as Caracas,” said Dr Barnhart, “and that starts to explain, in part, why there’s so much shaking there.”
The ground shift
Scientists compared satellite imagery from before and after the quake to measure how much the ground shifted. In coastal regions such as La Guaira — where the fault runs only a couple of miles offshore or directly beneath the city — the ground shifted as much as 1.5 feet to the west.
The San Sebastián is a strike-slip fault, meaning that the Earth moves primarily horizontally along it. During the quake, regions north of the fault slipped east, while those south of it shifted west.
In areas built directly on top of the fault, satellite analysis makes the displacement clear.
For example, the northern half of Simón Bolívar International Airport was displaced to the east, with the southern half being pushed in the opposite direction. The San Sebastián fault runs along the seam between the two directions of displacement.
Although cracks in the airport ground were visible in post-quake imagery, satellite analysis indicates that the fault did not reach the surface of the earth in that region, Dr Barnhart said. Had it done so, the contrast between the two directions of displacement would have been even starker, he said.
The “directivity” effect
Another factor may have increased the strength of the shaking to the east of the rupture, Dr Oglesby said.
As the rupture moved east, it may have pushed up the amplitude, or strength, of seismic waves, piling them up like waves in front of a boat or sound ahead of a speeding motorcycle. The effect, known as “directivity”, probably amplified the strength of the shaking toward Caracas, though more data is needed to confirm it.
“Directivity very likely contributed to the strong ground motion in Caracas and the area overall,” Dr Oglesby said. “It could make the difference between a building standing, with damage, and completely collapsing.”
“As shallow as it gets.”
The depth of the quakes, or more precisely the lack of it, may also have compounded the destruction.
The quakes began only around six miles below ground, so the shaking was especially strong on the surface. “That’s almost as shallow as it gets,” Vitor Silva, head of risk engineering for the Global Earthquake Model Foundation, said.
As with a bomb going off underground, an explosion that is shallower produces greater shaking at the surface, Dr Silva said. “There is a very short distance between areas where energy is being released and the built environment,” he said.
Built-up areas in the region, as in many parts of the world, also tend to sit on relatively flat ground, which is often soft, sedimentary material that can amplify seismic waves.
As the second rupture moved east, it travelled about 110 miles toward populated areas like Caraballeda, La Guaira and Caracas, sending seismic waves radiating outward along its path – explaining why the strong shaking extended so far away from the epicentre.
Source: Microsoft (damaged buildings). The New York Times
The soft soil
Yet another process that seismologists study is how the shaking, or seismic waves, make their way to the surface. In the simplest terms, a solid-rock surface tends to damp down the waves, and a softer, sedimentary surface amplifies them.
Humans tend to build on flat, sedimentary areas — former lakebeds and sea bottoms — that do not behave well during earthquakes. It is no different in Venezuela.
The exact frequencies, or wavelengths, that are amplified by the sediment depend on the details, such as its thickness or exact composition. If those amplified waves match the natural swaying frequency of a nearby building, they resonate. This can cause the building to shake far more violently, leading to more damage.
Earthquake engineers must account for all these factors when designing buildings to withstand what may rush from the ground below.
In Caraballeda, satellite analysis indicates that at least 152 buildings were destroyed, with dozens more damaged. Most of these buildings lined the low-lying coastline and stood on regions of unconsolidated soil that can amplify shaking.
Sources: Copernicus (destroyed buildings); Microsoft (damaged buildings). The New York Times
Several high-rise buildings in the area, built along the coast, collapsed.
Near the Playa Grande neighbourhood, at least 246 buildings were destroyed and nearly all of them were built on top of the same soft soil. The San Sebastián fault runs directly underneath this region.
Sources: Copernicus (destroyed buildings); Microsoft (damaged buildings). The New York Times
Other factors
Engineers say Venezuela’s seismic codes are some of the best in Latin America. The question is whether they were followed.
From the scale of destruction, it appeared that some and perhaps many buildings had not been built to code, though experts said a full accounting would have to wait until the search for survivors had ended.
Far more study will be required to understand why and how so many buildings fell apart in Venezuela. Some collapses may have been the result of so-called soft stories, where a single floor — often the ground floor — is not as strong or as well designed as the others in the same building.
Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times
In other cases, columns seem to have given way throughout entire buildings, suggesting that they lacked proper reinforcements or that contractors skimped on the amount of steel.
Older buildings may have folded and fallen simply because they predated Venezuela’s more recent code upgrades.
There are also buildings that are a total loss — walls and contents spilling onto the ground — but still stand. That allowed residents to escape. Outcomes like that would, presumably, be consistent with codes that prioritise human survival over structural preservation.
Collapsed buildings at La Guaira, June 29, 2026. Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times
Thousands of Medicare beneficiaries lost their drug coverage after their premiums increased, and they were unaware of this change.
Jude Pare and his partner, Diane Tix, live in rural Minnesota until temperatures dip below freezing, when they take refuge in Arizona for the winter. While away, their mail is forwarded. But Pare, 77, said he didn’t receive any warning from his Medicare prescription drug plan that his $0 monthly premium was about to increase.
So he did not know he was billed for payment. After he and Tix returned home to Minnesota in April, they received a letter from Wellcare, the insurer that provided his drug plan, stating that his coverage had been terminated after three months of unpaid premiums totalling $28.80. Under Medicare’s rules, he can’t enrol in a plan again until the fall, with coverage starting in 2027.
Pare takes Xarelto, a blood thinner that reduces his risk of strokes, blood clots, and pulmonary embolism. “He could bleed to death without it,” Tix said. A 90-day supply of the drug costs about $1,800 using a coupon from GoodRx, a discount drug website, she said.
Pare is among tens of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries on Wellcare’s Value Script drug plan who will likely go without prescription drug coverage for the rest of the year because they did not pay premiums for three months.
Next year, thousands more people in 32 states and Washington, D.C., who are enrolled in zero-premium drug plans from Wellcare and other insurance companies may find themselves in the same situation if their premiums go up and they don’t realise it, according to a KFF Health News analysis of drug plan data. In September, Wellcare will unveil the premiums and other changes for 2027.
Caught off guard
Going without medication can be life-threatening, especially for Medicare beneficiaries. Nearly 90% take one or more prescription drugs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost half live with four or more chronic health conditions that can cause functional or cognitive impairments.
By the time Jude Pare and his partner, Diane Tix, found out he owed $28.80 for three months of drug plan premiums, his coverage had been cancelled. He is among tens of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries who will likely go without prescription drug coverage for the rest of the year after their drug plans were cancelled.
Congress added prescription drug coverage to Medicare in 2003. But the coverage is administered by commercial insurance companies, which compete fiercely with one another for the business of about 56 million Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in drug plans.
Zero-dollar or very low monthly premiums have helped make Wellcare’s Value Script the bestselling stand-alone prescription drug plan in Medicare, with nearly 6 million customers across the U.S., according to government data. But in 26 states and Washington, D.C., some Value Script members who didn’t have to pay a premium last year were surprised by increases in 2026.
After a two-month grace period — which Wellcare extended to three — Medicare drug plans can drop customers who don’t pay their premiums, no matter how small the amount. Some members who lost their coverage in Nevada, for example, owed as little as $8.10 for three months, according to a KFF Health News analysis of Medicare drug plan data.
Wellcare terminated coverage for about 140,000 Value Script beneficiaries in April, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who was not authorised to speak publicly about it and feared reprisals at work for doing so. About 40,000 of the people who were dropped may be able to enrol in new coverage immediately because they have low incomes and receive financial assistance through a programme that Medicare calls “Extra Help.”
Multiple state officials said they had heard the same disenrollment figures, including Nevada’s insurance commissioner, Ned Gaines, who chairs the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ senior issues task force; Rebecca Gouty, director of the State Health Insurance Assistance Program in West Virginia; and Tim Smolen, director of Washington State’s Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors.
The West Virginia and Washington initiatives are part of the federally funded State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), which provides free, unbiased help navigating Medicare.
Surprise bills
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees Medicare drug plans, declined to provide the number of ValueScript members who lost coverage due to unpaid premiums. “The agency does not publicly provide plan-specific disenrollment figures or state-level breakdowns related to the non-payment of premiums,” Christopher Krepich, a spokesperson, said in a written statement to KFF Health News.
Centene Corp., WellCare’s parent company, also declined to provide disenrollment numbers.
“We recognise how disruptive a loss of coverage can be and are committed to helping members understand their options,” said Sarah Baiocchi, senior vice president for speciality and prescription drug plans at Centene. She acknowledged that “some members in our Value Script plan experienced a premium for the first time, or for the first time in several years.”
Baiocchi said all Value Script members received a CMS-required annual notice of changes in September, before the premium increases took effect.
A version of the booklet sent to members in two states and Washington, D.C., is 21 pages long. The new premium is mentioned on pages 3 and 8, along with changes to out-of-pocket costs and how to find updates on covered drugs and network pharmacies.
Wayne Bennett lost his Medicare drug coverage because he didn’t pay the premium, which was free last year but, without his knowing, went up this year. “Medicare should be doing something about this issue so that we can go ahead and get coverage now,” he says.
The company also informed members about 2026 premium changes through phone calls, text messages, regular mail, or email, Baiocchi said.
People who are dropped cannot re-enrol or join another drug plan until the start of the open enrolment period this fall for coverage beginning Jan. 1, unless they qualify for an exception, Krepich said.
And because they will have gone without coverage for at least 63 days, they could be hit with a permanent late-enrolment penalty that increases every year for the rest of their lives.
“Medicare should be doing something about the situation so that we can go ahead and get coverage now,” said Wayne Bennett, 74, who lives in Durham, North Carolina.
In May, he found out that Wellcare had cancelled his Value Script plan because he hadn’t paid his $3.60 monthly premiums. He takes nine prescription drugs to treat his blood pressure, glaucoma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other health problems. He filled most of his prescriptions, including several at no cost, before he lost coverage. He doesn’t know what he’ll have to pay when his supply runs out.
Gouty, the West Virginia programme head, said many Medicare beneficiaries arrange for their monthly drug plan premium to be automatically deducted from their Social Security benefits and that many likely thought that choice remained in place until they changed it.
“They didn’t realise that when the plan had a zero premium in 2025, it stopped the Social Security premium deduction and they would have had to reelect it for 2026,” Gouty said.
In other words, even if they mistakenly thought the premium was still zero, Medicare beneficiaries would have needed to somehow allow Social Security to make deductions — something the agency doesn’t do — or else set up a payment plan through their bank or credit card in case payment was necessary.
“That sounds goofy,” Tix said.
Centene’s Baiocchi blamed the Social Security Administration for the problem: “We believe this issue was a key driver of non-payment disenrollments and subsequent complaints.”
Spokespeople for the agency referred questions about the matter to CMS.
Krepich said that legal requirements for drug plan enrolment and disenrollment limit what CMS can do to help beneficiaries who lose coverage because they do not pay their premiums.
“Pretty upset”
Now that Pare has no prescription drug coverage, his doctor replaced his blood thinner medication with a much less expensive drug that should be just as effective. Pare paid $111 for four other medications that used to be free under his Value Script plan. He hasn’t had to refill four more prescriptions yet and doesn’t know what they will cost, Tix said.
If Wellcare members knew about the premium increases, they could have set up direct billing or an automatic payment plan early this year before the payment grace period ended April 1. But they could have filled prescriptions during the grace period, so if they missed Wellcare’s notices, they likely assumed their coverage was fine.
Bennett, the North Carolina man, said Wellcare used to send him text messages with health tips and reminders when it was time to pick up a prescription. He didn’t know his premium had increased from $0 to $3.60 until it was too late.
“I was pretty upset,” he said when he called the company. “The premium wasn’t that much, and I was ready to pay it right off the bat. I had my credit card out ready to make the payment.”
The customer service representative wouldn’t let him pay because his coverage had been cancelled, Bennett said.
Hoping to restore it, Bennett called Senior PharmAssist, a Durham nonprofit that advises Medicare beneficiaries and is one of more than 2,200 SHIP sites across the country. He was told he must wait until January to restart his drug coverage, said the group’s executive director, Gina Upchurch.
He doesn’t qualify for the “Extra Help” low-income subsidy or meet other CMS criteria for a special enrolment period, which would allow him to change drug plans during the year. CMS typically allows midyear switches for beneficiaries who, for example, move out of their plan’s service area, experience a natural disaster, or receive help paying for drugs through a state programme.
Senior PharmAssist was able to help one of its participants join another drug plan after she lost Value Script coverage because she is in North Carolina’s pharmacy assistance programme for people with HIV/AIDS and has limited income, Upchurch said.
A further exception allows any Medicare beneficiary to enrol at any time in a drug plan that has earned five stars, the top grade in Medicare’s performance ratings. However, there are no five-star Medicare drug plans available to the general public. Only two insurers offer five-star plans, and only for retirees from certain employers. Their combined enrolment is about 8,700 as of June 1, according to the insurers.
But Upchurch, with more than two decades of Medicare expertise, understands why beneficiaries might not pay attention or assume Wellcare’s messages were bogus. Older adults are particularly vulnerable to identity theft and other scams and are often advised to ignore junk mail and calls from telemarketers.
Since Value Script members such as Bennett continued to get their prescriptions filled during the payment grace period, “Why wouldn’t they think the process was a scam?” Upchurch asked. “They are constantly bombarded by people selling them something that’s illegitimate or trying to scam them.”
