"Health Care Reform Could Expand Coverage to Libby Residents"

"Sen. Max Baucus, one of Montana's two senators and a chief figure in the federal government's attempt to pass health care reform, added a provision to the U.S. Senate version of the bill that would expand Medicare coverage to 'individuals exposed to environmental health hazards.'

Baucus' provision specifically applies to people living in areas that have been given public health emergency declarations. There has been only one such declaration in U.S. history: the Superfund site at Libby on June 17 of this year. The provision is tucked away in the massive Senate bill and never mentions Libby by name."

Myers Reece reports for the Flathead Beacon December 27, 2009.