By Kay Tillow
Daily Kos, Jan. 27, 2016
There is a precedent for expanding Medicare to a region suffering from a public health disaster.
Montana Senator Max Baucus tucked into the Affordable Care Act a special section that expands Medicare to the people of Libby and the surrounding area who were poisoned by W. R. Grace’s deadly mine causing mesothelioma and asbestos-related disease.
Shouldn’t the people of Flint, all of them not just the children, have Medicare also for life? We must do much more, but, at least, we can start here.
Below are two stories on this topic. All of the supporting data appears in the bottom link of each story. (For instance, here’s the Libby link on the Social Security website.)
Kay Tillow, Coordinator
All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care–HR 676
c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO)
1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218
Louisville, KY 40217
(502) 636 1551
Email: nursenpo@aol.com
www.facebook.com/unionsforsinglepayer
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How Libby, Montana, Got Medicare for All
By Kay Tillow
Original article on FireDogLake.com, June 15, 2011
In 2009 when the Washington beltway was tied up with the health care reform tussle, Montana Democratic Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the all powerful Senate Finance Committee, said everything was on the table–except for single payer. When doctors, nurses and others rose in his hearing to insist that single payer be included in the debate, Baucus had them arrested. As more stood up, Baucus could be heard on his open microphone saying, “We need more police.”
Yet when Senator 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.
http://unionsforsinglepayer.org/news_releases/2011-06-15
https://shadowproof.com/2011/06/15/how-libby-montana-got-medicare-for-all/
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Discretionary Deeming: How Libby Montana got Improved Medicare with free drugs
By Kay Tillow
Original article on firedoglake.com, Jan. 6, 2014
Buried deep in the health reform law is Section 10323. It amends the Social Security Act to extend Medicare coverage to individuals exposed to environmental health hazards in the region defined by the Emergency Declaration of June 17, 2009. That declaration limits this benefit to the area around Libby, Montana.
http://unionsforsinglepayer.org/articles/2014-01-06/discretionary-deeming-how-libby-montana-got-improved-medicare-with-free-drugs
https://shadowproof.com/2014/01/06/discretionary-deeming-how-libby-montana-got-improved-medicare-with-free-drugs/
