In the health care bill championed by Democrats and now expected to pass the Senate, there are, as the New York Times phrases it, “very specific beneficiaries.” And one of those beneficiaries is Libby, which is helped by a provision inserted by Montana senior senator and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus.
The proposal would expand Medicare coverage to people exposed to asbestos from the since shuttered vermiculite mine in Libby. From NYT:
Mr. Baucus defended the assistance for those affected by the asbestos site in his state. “The people of Libby were poisoned and have been dying for more than a decade,” he said. “New residents continue to get sick all the time. Public health tragedies like this could happen in any town in America. We need this type of mechanism to help people when they need it most.”
Also in the bill is an item that would increase Medicare payments to states that have the most “frontier counties.” Those include Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.