Insurance: new approach to long-term care

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the insurance industry may have found a way to finance the closure and post-closure care of waste-management facilities that will be less costly than a traditional trust fund. The new concept insures against a premature closing and provides funds for both closure and post-closure expenses by having the facility owner/operator pay regular premiums to provide closure funds. Liability questions do not come into play, as the policy deals exclusively with the facility's financial reliability. The program under development will attract medium and small firms. Questions about the new plan remain to be addressed during the hearing period