On July 1st, 2011, a new program will be put in place to bring medical care to the people of Libby, Montana – a town that the EPA has called the site of the nation’s worst environmental disaster. Countless people from Libby and surrounding areas have developed horrible asbestos diseases such as mesothelioma and asbestosis because of a nearby W.R. Grace asbestos mine, which operated from the 1920s to the 1990s.
The people in the Lincoln and Flathead Counties of Montana were unknowingly poisoned by asbestos for many years – in fact, the only ones who knew that the townspeople would likely get sick and die from asbestos was W.R. Grace.
Now, the government has finally stepped in and provided the people of Libby some medical help with a program called The Medicare Pilot Program for Asbestos-Related Disease. For the many people residing in an area still contaminated with noxious asbestos fibers, this program will bring much needed medical attention and support…unless the GOP can stop it.
US Republicans want to nip this program in the bud, which would leave more than 10,000 people out of medical care they can’t afford. Why can’t they afford this medical care? Because many of them can no longer work after being stricken with asbestos diseases.
"The people of Libby have been poisoned and have been dying for a decade. 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," said Senator Max Baucus of Montana who helped organize the program. Baucus is NOT in favor of a single-payer medical system, but he resorted to this program because of the catastrophic nature of situation in Libby.
Despite being a proprietor of hope for mesothelioma advancements, I felt I had to address this troubling issue. I do not subscribe to any one political party, but will someone please explain why the GOP wants to let 10,000 people get sick and die?
For more information visit: http://peoplesworld.org/how-libby-mont-got-medicare-for-all/
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