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One Montana County's Medicare-for-All Coverage
As the Ryan Republicans try to destroy Medicare, here's a prescription to clean up the whole mess.
Back when he presided over the Senate's health care reform debate, Max Baucus, chairman of the all-powerful Senate Finance Committee, had said everything was on the table — except for single-payer universal health care. When doctors, nurses, and others rose in his hearing to insist that single payer be included in the debate, the Montana Democrat had them arrested. As more stood up, Baucus could be heard on his open microphone saying, "We need more police."
Yet when Baucus needed a solution to a catastrophic health disaster in Libby, Montana and surrounding Lincoln County, he turned to the nation's single-payer healthcare system, Medicare, to solve the problem.
You see, a vermiculite mine had spread deadly airborne asbestos that killed hundreds and sickened thousands in Libby and northwest Montana. W.R. Grace & Co., which owned the mine, denied its connection to the outbreaks of mesothelioma and asbestosis and dodged responsibility for this disaster. The federal government got stuck with most of the tab for the cleanup costs, and the EPA has issued a first-of-its-kind order declaring Lincoln County a public health disaster.
When all lawsuits and legal avenues failed, Baucus turned to Medicare.
The single-payer plan that Baucus kept off the table in 2009 is now very much on the table in Libby. It turns out that Baucus quietly inserted a section into the Affordable Care Act that covers the suffering people of Libby, Montana. Medicare covers the whole community, not just the former miners.
Residents of Libby don't have to be 65 years old or more. They don't have to wait until 2014 for the state exchanges. There's no 10-year roll out for them — it's immediate. They don't have to purchase a plan — this isn't 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 or pay a fine for failure to buy insurance. They don't have to hope that the market will make a plan affordable or hide their pre-existing conditions. They don't have to find a job that provides coverage.
Baucus simply inserted a clause into the health care reform law to make special arrangements for them in Medicare.
No one should begrudge the people of Lincoln County, where toxic mine waste was used as soil additives, home insulation, and even spread on the running tracks at local schools. Miners brought carcinogens home on their clothes.
"The people of Libby have been poisoned and have been dying for more than a decade," Baucus explained in a New York Times interview. "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."
But health tragedies are happening in every American town. Over 51 million have no insurance. and 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 Obama's health care law will mitigate the skyrocketing costs. More than half of us, including tens of millions of insured Americans, 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.
So as the Ryan Republicans try to destroy Medicare and far too many Democrats use the deficit excuse to suggest other ways to tear the social safety net apart, Libby offers a prescription to clean up the whole mess. Only single-payer universal health care — improved Medicare for all — can save and protect Medicare, rein in skyrocketing health care costs, and give us universal coverage.
Medicare was implemented within less than a year of its 1965 passage. When Congress passes a national single-payer bill, we can all be enrolled in the twinkling of an eye.
A longer version of this commentary first appeared on Firedoglake.
11 Comments so far
Show AllSo the company that caused the mess "dodged responsibility" and we, the people, pay once again. I've known about the asbestos mess in Libby for some time and certainly don't begrudge these people medical care but until we change the dynamic, which became institutionalized in the 80's, that says privatize profit/socialize risk--we are doomed.
Max Baucus has received boatloads of campaign contributions from W.R. Grace during his political career, thereby assuring that he will find a taxpayer-funded solution whenever Grace's profits need to be protected.
Just when I thought Team Dubya took hypocrisy to new heights, Team Obama keeps providing more examples of blatant hypocrisy, like arresting single-payer advocates while applying single-payer (in this case Medicare) to protect campaign contributors' profits.
I'd also ad that the state of Montana And WR Grace knew of the dangers for decades before anything was done.
Then WR Grace did as all corporations do when they're in deep shit liability wise.
Pay out any and all assets as Bonuses and stock dividends until the company is bankrupted. Then stick We The People with the bills and move on to other corporations to run, communities to plunder and employees to poison and kill.
There was a court case against the executives personally for this debacle in Libby - but of course they all walked away scot free.
The judge in the case was known as a liberal judge - but when it's poor people against millionaires and predator corporations - the little people lose once again.
That asbestos is in every yard - no landscaping!
It's in every atyic and crawl space - no remodeling!
Hell it's even grown into the tress - so don't cut firewood anywhere near that old mine.
And yes they used the tailings as the sand for the running track and even the baseball infield!
Libby is owed a hell of a lot more than Medicare.
What an unmitigated industrial nightmare, one amongst a multitude in the US and the world. The industrial thugs knowingly poisoned a whole community and then got to walk away from any responsibility, accountability and jail time. Baucus did some good for the people of Libby but otherwise he is a total corporate controlled lap dog and a sell-out to the oligarchs. But some how, other big capitalist countries like Japan, Germany and France have figured out how to supply health care to all their peoples.
What's good enough for this senator's home state is good for the rest of the USA. Also what's good for the congress which already gets this is good for all the rest of the USA.
>>>>>"Medicare covers the whole community, not just the former miners."
This is not true.
"Medicare is available to anyone who lives here and can show that they have health problems due to exposure to asbestos. I would add that a tiny percentage of Libby, MT/Lincoln County residents currently have this coverage. There is a screening process one must go through to find out if you're eligible which includes a physical examination. Only people who developed medical conditions as a result of exposure are eligible for Medicare under the Affordable Care Act's "Exposure to Environmental Health Hazards" provision.
The majority of people living in Libby are not eligible for Medicare."
http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2011/06/can-we-all-move-libby
So let me get this article's message straight. According to Kay T, because Baucus quietly dropped another bone for Libby, MT we should just overlook the fact that Senator Baucus who's supposed to represent the state of Montana is saying nothing about health care for the rest of the state and that we should somehow forget that SOB for doing everything to keep single payer from getting any hearing in Washington including allowing for the arrest of single payer advocates. I'm not buying that.
I don't see any single payer in Libby County. Single payer in Libby County is supposed to be about the local government of that county providing health care for the residents, not a US Senator dropping in a temporary bone. That's what I believe local medicare-for-all is supposed to be all about. What am I missing?
I think you got it completely twisted, Maxpayne. The author doesn't suggest forgetting Baucus's misdeeds; she reminds us of them.
Boy I am fighting the urge to turn on the all caps key, here.
I want this viral on Facebook etc. I don't grudge Libby the care they hopefully receive under this plan but that it was Baucus that formulated this solution is beyond the pale. And the worst part is I don't think it was out of compassion. No, it was politically expedient to externalize the costs of this toxic nightmare deliberately created by a corporation. Socialized medicine for the benefit of corporations,not for the benefit of the people is what he supported when he took it off the table for the nation.
I saw a video of the people in the Plaza del Sol where when they felt the outrage I feel, raised their arms and wiggly waved their fingers and hands to dissipate it non-violently yet still showing they are going to stick around and demand accountability. If the police try to disperse them they will wander off then just come back again. It really helped me to see this so I stick with the resolution of people like Elizabeth H and others to proceed non-violently. How will this all shake out? Ojala que....
Thank you, Kay Tillow, for alerting us to this scandal. Baucus is a vile human being.