U.S. senators want to make getting medical help easier for sick Hanford, PNNL workers

Ill Hanford workers could get health care more easily under a new bill introduced by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

Many current and past workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation site and other sites where nuclear weapons work was done receive health care at no cost for illnesses that may have been caused by exposures at the site, including to radioactive and other hazardous chemical materials.

Now only doctors, and not physician assistants or nurse practitioners, are allowed to order home health care services for workers who qualify for the federal Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation program.

The Health Care for Energy Workers Act would change that to provide better access to care, according to Murray’s staff.

“Many of these workers live in rural communities, hours from a doctor, and our bill will make it a whole lot easier for them to access the medical care they need and deserve,” Murray said.

She is sponsoring the bill with Sens. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

The compensation program administered by the Department of Labor has paid out $716 million in health care costs to Hanford workers and $1.6 million in compensation. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory workers also have received health care and compensation.

For more information about federal and state compensation programs for ill current and past Hanford or PNNL workers or their survivors, contact the Hanford Workforce Engagement Center in Richland at 509-376-4932.

Hanford was used from World War II through the Cold War to produce nearly two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program. Work now is underway to clean up radioactive and hazardous chemical contamination and waste.

This story was originally published February 5, 2024 at 4:32 PM with the headline "U.S. senators want to make getting medical help easier for sick Hanford, PNNL workers."