Montana senator Max Baucus has a vested interested in the people of his state and understands firsthand what the town of Libby has suffered through during the last few decades.
He’s brought a host of people to visit the small town near the Canadian border, intent on convincing them to help the more than 4,000 people who have been touched by exposure to asbestos due to a long-operating, asbestos-tainted vermiculite mine. This week, Baucus’ companion was a Medicare official who also wanted to see for herself what asbestos had done to this once vibrant town.
According to an article in the Missoulian, Baucus asked Marilyn Tavenner, newly-appointed to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to come meet the people of Libby, particularly those who have suffered personally from the effects of asbestos exposure as well as family members of those who’ve already passed from diseases such as mesothelioma cancer. Tavenner, who has a picture of one such victim on her desk in Washington D.C., eagerly accepted the invitation.
Baucus had approached Tavenner in the past about the fact that Medicare was delaying victims’ settlement payments. Now, he wants to convince her to expand additional Medicare benefits to asbestos victims who have moved out of the area. Libby victims receive health care coverage under Medicare due to a provision Baucus wrote in the Affordable Care Act but, currently, only those living in Lincoln and Flathead Counties quality for that coverage.
“Libby asbestos victims who no longer live in either county can’t receive the special home care services, special medical equipment, help with travel to get care, special counseling, nutritional supplements and prescription drugs not covered by Medicare drug plans,” the article notes. The agency headed by Tavenner has the option to change that.
Tavenner said she hopes the change will come within the next few months, and certainly before the end of the year. It may be Baucus’ last Libby-related victory before he retires, as he will not seek re-election in 2014.