June 28, 2011 in Nation/World, Region

Libby clinic receives $10 million grant for screenings

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HELENA, Mont. — U.S. Sen. Max Baucus says a clinic in Libby, Mont., has secured a $10 million, four-year federal grant to screen people for asbestos-related disease.

The Montana Democrat announced Monday that the Center for Asbestos Related Disease, also known as the CARD clinic, had been awarded the competitive grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The grant will allow the clinic to continue to provide free screenings for people in town and also hold screenings across the nation for those exposed to asbestos in Libby.

More than 1,750 people from the Libby area have been diagnosed with potentially fatal asbestos-related diseases, straining efforts to provide medical services there.

The northwestern Montana town is where a W.R. Grace vermiculite mine released asbestos that contaminated hundreds of households, businesses and forests.

© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

One comment on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  greenlibertarian on June 28 at 10:52 a.m.

  That ain’t nuthin’.

  Libby has free universal health care, courtesy Max, and delivered through the Medicare system.

  Baucus’ problem was caused by a vermiculite mine that had spread deadly airborne asbestos killing hundreds and sickening thousands in Libby and northwest Montana. The W. R. Grace Company that owned the mine denied its connection to the massive levels of mesothelioma and asbestosis and dodged responsibility for this environmental and health disaster. When all law suits and legal avenues failed, Baucus turned to our country’s single payer plan, Medicare.

  The single payer plan that Baucus kept off the table is now very much on the table in Libby. Unknown to most of the public, Baucus inserted a section into the health reform bill that covers the suffering people of Libby, Montana, not just the former miners but the whole community—all covered by Medicare.

  They don’t have to be 65 years old or more.
  They don’t have to wait until 2014 for the state exchanges.
  No ten year roll out—it’s immediate.
  They don’t have to purchase a plan—this is not a buy-in to Medicare—it’s free.
  They don’t have to be disabled for two years before they apply.
  They don’t have to go without care for three years until Medicaid expands.
  They don’t have to meet income tests.
  They don’t have to apply for a subsidy.
  They don’t have to pay a fine for failure to buy insurance.
  They don’t have to hope that the market will make a plan affordable.
  They don’t have to hide their pre-existing conditions.
  They don’t have to find a job that provides coverage.

  : …

  Less than two months after the passage of the health reform bill on March 23, 2010, Nancy Berryhill of the Social Security Administration in Denver joined personally in setting up an office in Libby to sign up these newly eligible people. “This is a new thing,” Berryhill told the Missoulian. “No other group like this has ever been selected to receive Medicare.” Berryhill issued a nationwide alert to inform anyone who had lived or stayed in Lincoln County of their eligibility. She opened a storefront in Libby at the old downtown city hall where she signed up 60 people on the first day. She plastered the towns of Whitefish and Eureka with pamphlets explaining the program and added three new staffers to the office in Kalispell.

  Berryhill said she did not know how much the care would cost. That kind of analysis was beyond her directive to sign the people up. There have been no reports of competition from the private for-profit Medicare Advantage plans. The sick are not profitable.

  No one should begrudge the people of Lincoln County. The mine wastes were used as soil additives, home insulation, and even spread on the running tracks at local schools. Miners brought the carcinogens home on their clothes. The W. R. Grace Company dumped much of the clean up costs onto the federal government. A June 17, 2009, order by the Environmental Protection Agency, the first of its kind, declared Lincoln County a public health disaster. The Libby Medicare provision in the health reform law is based on the area covered by that EPA order.

  :…

  Health tragedies are happening in every town. Over 51 million have no insurance. Over 45,000 uninsured people die needlessly each year. Employers are cutting coverage and dropping plans. States in economic crisis are slashing both Medicaid and their employees’ plans. Nothing in last year’s reform law will mitigate the skyrocketing costs. Most insurance is threadbare and doesn’t cover. More than 50% of us now go without necessary care. As Baucus said of Medicare, “We need this mechanism to help people when they need it most.” We all need it now. (continues)

  
  http://www.healthcare-now.org/how-libby-montana-got-medicare-for-all/

  Socialism (Medicare for all) just 160 miles away from Spokanistan.

  Wonders never cease.