I had to purchase a new phone as mine had broken.  They only had the Iris Flip available, I prefer a flip phone. I asked that it be set up the same as my Link II phone was.  The gentleman at Target told me it was the same.  I can't text like I used ...

This is a "made up" charge.  They say that it is to cover the costs of complying with the government requirements, whatever those might be.  The government doesn't charge Consumer Cellular the fees that they are passing along to the customers.