A $19.5 million settlement proposal to help cover medical costs for Libby asbestos poisoning victims was announced this week.
The proposal has emerged from a decade-long bankruptcy legal battle between asbestos poisoning victims and W.R. Grace and Company, which at one time mined vermiculite asbestos just north of Libby. Asbestos-related diseases have sickened or killed hundreds of area residents. Libby has been designated an EPA Superfund site since 1999.
According to a Jan. 31 press release from Jon Heberling, an attorney representing the asbestos victims, money from the proposed settlement would fund the Libby Medical Program, a New Jersey-based service maintained by W.R. Grace since 2000. The program’s medical director, Dr. Jay Flynn, said the service covers the cost of treating all asbestos-related diseases for former mine employees and their families, as well as anyone who lived in the Libby area for at least 12 consecutive months before Jan. 1, 2000. The program also helps patients get a second opinion from area doctors to confirm if they have asbestos-related illnesses.
According to Heberling’s release, the proposed settlement’s funds would be transferred from the Libby Medical Program to the Montana-based Libby Medical Plan Trust. The trust will accept all of the program’s current members and patients. Heberling said the settlement will ensure that asbestos victims receive the care owed to them by W.R. Grace into the future.
Heberling also announced this week that $43 million owed to asbestos victims, resulting from an earlier settlement with the state of Montana, was due to be delivered to some people. So far, according to a press release, about 200 people have received checks from a trustee based in Missoula that is responsible for distributing the money. A resolution that would release payments for another 600 people is currently in the works. Medicare must first clear patients before they can receive the money. There are also a number of other claimants awaiting evaluation from Medicare.