New Bill Could Mean Long Delays In Payout -- MesoLink.org -- 08-11-04

The new asbestos trust fund bill being proposed by Senators Frist and Daschle is again raising concern amongst mesothelioma victims, their families and various support groups.

The fund will have far more cash in the kitty with which to pay compensation claims – around $140 to $145 billion – than the proposal that was put forward earlier this year, which failed in Senate in May 2004.

However, the concerns are not just financial, but also relating to the waiting times that will be involved under these new proposals. Senator Frist’s variation of the asbestos fund proposal states that any mesothelioma cases being dealt with at the time the bill is passed – if it is passed – should revert to the new system rather than continuing.

Many are worried that this means there will be a huge backlog of claims to deal with, and there simply won’t be enough resources to deal with that sort of number.

Mesothelioma is a cancer caused by asbestos fibres that are breathed in, and this deadly cancer can reduce the victim’s lifespan to an average of one year from the onset of symptoms. There are concerns that many victims won’t even live to see their compensation paid out, and that the trust fund proposals are geared more to protect the manufacturers and asbestos industries rather than those affected by asbestos.

This is because, once a company or their insurer has put an allocated sum of money in to the trust fund pot, they will not be eligible to be sued again, and this could save them a lot of money and could even stop the threat of bankruptcy for many of these companies.