Leavitt lends an ear in Libby

Top health official vows to support asbestos clinic, research

The federal government's top health official on Friday promised to do what he can to help keep Libby's asbestos clinic open and to support research opportunities for the town's unique and toxic form of asbestos.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt was brought to Libby by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., so Leavitt could see firsthand what care providers and asbestos victims are up against in dealing with widespread death and disease linked to exposure from the former W.R. Grace vermiculite mine.

It was Leavitt's second trip to Libby. He visited Libby briefly in August, 2004, as then-Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

After spending an hour with doctors at the Center for Asbestos Related Disease, better known as the CARD clinic, Leavitt and his entourage were greeted by a standing-room-only crowd at a town-hall meeting.

"I'm impressed with the level of community spirit that went into the CARD clinic," Leavitt told the crowd. "We'll do what we can to keep it going."

The clinic, which now handles a patient load of 1,400 asbestos victims and is adding 15 to 20 patients a month, was originally set up with a $250,000 donation from Grace to St. John's Lutheran Hospital. Later, the clinic separated from the hospital to form its own nonprofit corporation and has been sustained with a variety of grants and government resources.

It also relies heavily on reimbursements for patient treatment rendered from HNA, the company that administers Grace's medical insurance plan for asbestos patients. But last fall HNA sent letters to about 700 of 870 Libby area residents enrolled in the Grace plan, saying their benefits were being scaled back.

The uncertainty of the Grace plan leaves patients and the clinic facing an unpredictable future for sustainable health-care services and research, noted Dr. Brad Black, medical director of the CARD clinic.

Black's colleague, pulmonary expert Dr. Alan Whitehouse, told Leavitt many patients are falling through the funding cracks.

"Medicare has turned down a lot of these patients," Whitehouse said. "And when they have insurance through Grace and Grace says it won't pay, there's no funds and that's getting to be a problem."

Leavitt quizzed the doctors about what he sees as a rather complex and frustrating "labyrinth of health-care" resources for asbestos victims.

"If they [Grace] don't pay, why do they view themselves as providing insurance?" Leavitt wondered.

After the doctors pointed out that many victims also have difficulty in qualifying for disability through the Social Security Administration, Leavitt said he'd have his staff check on the processes and eligibility requirements for both disability and Medicare.

FUNDING FOR asbestos research programs was the other focus of the doctors' presentation to Libby.

Libby's tremolite asbestos contains an unusual and extremely toxic fiber type that presents an opportunity for one-of-a-kind research, Black said. Unless a physician has been dealing with patients exposed to tremolite asbestos and knows the idiosyncracies of the diseases it causes, it's easy to misdiagnose patients, he said.

The level of education in the medical community [about asbestos disease] was really low," Black said. "My sense is that more pulmonary specialists are beginning to recognize" the specific patterns of Libby asbestos disease.

Leavitt said he understood the need for more research.

"You have 1,400 people dealing with a unique form of asbestos. Your view is that there's a lot of data, but not a lot of quantitative research," Leavitt summarized. "There's a substantial body of science that can be gathered here… I think that [research] is quite a viable proposition."

AT THE TOWN meeting, Leavitt and Baucus listened to asbestos victims' personal stories of dealing not only with the disease but with the red tape that accompanies medical treatment.

Victim advocate Sandy Wagner stressed the need for funding to create a medical trust fund for Libby asbestos victims.

"Time is of the essence," Wagner stressed. "Many of these people are sicker today than they were a year ago."

A spokesman from St. John's Hospital detailed the hospital's needs, ranging from building upgrades to better technology. A state-of-the-art CT scanner purchased just two years ago is already outdated, but it will cost $1.5 million for a new one that can better detect asbestos disease.

Clinton Maynard told Leavitt he believes the federal government is partially to blame for Libby's health and environmental disaster because federal agencies "looked the other way" when they should have been cracking down on W.R. Grace.

"We've been stripped of life span here, years of life," Maynard said. "There will be suffering and a lot of death due to what happened and our government is partly responsible."

Maynard also encouraged Baucus to push for legislation that would create funding for asbestos research.

Leavitt continued to question officials about Libby's plight, wondering among other things if the city or county were advocating for victims as Grace works through its bankruptcy proceedings. He urged officials to tap the Attorney General's office for assistance and be a part of the proceedings as Grace "divvies up" its pool of assets.

Leavitt also made a plug for the new Medicare Part D prescription plan, coverage that's now available to some 40 million elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries. There are 100,000 Montanans eligible for coverage who haven't signed up yet, he told the audience.

Baucus said he'll continue to work to get the resources together to help Libby. Bringing Leavitt to Libby again was an important step in the process, he added.

"Seeing is believing," Baucus said.

Leavitt seemed genuinely touched by his interaction with Libby residents.

"I feel the affection you have for each other," Leavitt said, "How you take care of one another.

"Both of my visits here have been extraordinarily important in terms of learning. "You can't understand it until you've been here… I think we're on to something important here."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com