Government will stop fighting nuclear workers' illness claims

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http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=080802 & ID=s1195500

Government will stop fighting nuclear workers' illness claims

The Energy Department will establish a uniform standard for doctors

Zuckerbrod

Associated Press

WASHINGTON _ Under pressure from Congress, the Bush administration has

decided to reverse policy and quit fighting illness compensation claims from

Cold War-era nuclear weapons workers exposed to toxic chemicals.

Final Energy Department regulations, obtained by The Associated Press and

expected to be issued today, instruct contractors not to contest medical

panels' findings that workers' illnesses are related to job exposure.

The new rules reverse a decades-old policy and differ from a draft proposal

circulated earlier this year that allowed contractors to contest such

findings and even said the Energy Department would help pay for appeals.

Lawmakers from states with nuclear weapons plants said the administration's

original proposal ran counter to the intent of a bill Congress passed two

years ago.

" It appears that DOE has addressed the major concerns that were raised about

the draft rule last spring, " said Sen. Fred , R-Tenn., who added

that more workers would now get compensated.

, a policy analyst with the Government Accountability Project,

a Washington watchdog group, said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham " overrode

his own staff and really deserves some credit for reversing some of the

flaws in the previous rule. "

The rule is aimed at helping thousands of workers across the country who

were exposed to toxic substances at Energy Department facilities run by

government contractors.

Those workers were not included in a year-old federal program that provides

medical care and $150,000 each to weapons plant workers made ill by exposure

to radiation or silica and beryllium, which cause lung diseases.

Instead, Congress told the Energy Department to help the chemical-exposed

workers file claims under state worker compensation systems.

" This rule is directed at ensuring that DOE assists as many of those

contractor employees, who may have been exposed to toxic substances while

working at DOE facilities, as possible in obtaining the state workers'

compensation benefits they deserve, " Abraham said.

Under the new rule, the Energy Department will establish a uniform standard

for physicians to consider when determining what made a worker sick.

" A single causation standard rather than 50 different state standards is a

major help, " said Sen. Voinovich, R-Ohio.

Lawmakers also praised the uniform standard for being generous rather than

restrictive. It says a claimant should be reimbursed if exposure to a toxic

substance on the job was " a significant factor in aggravating, contributing

to or causing the worker's illness or death. "

The new regulations also provide that only a majority vote is needed to find

in favor of a claimant, compared with a unanimous vote needed under the old

policy.

The potential cost of the claims is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Many weapons plant contractors are self-insured and are reimbursed by the

Energy Department for worker compensation costs.

But a problem still exists in cases where contractors have private insurance

policies. The Energy Department has no contractual relationship with the

private insurers and cannot instruct them to pay claims.

Similarly, if contractors are covered by a state insurance fund, the Energy

Department has no authority to instruct the state fund to pay a sick worker

claim.

said his group now wants Congress to pass new legislation to make the

federal government pay those claims as well.