In December 2012 a Bill was introduced to the Welsh Assembly which, if passed, would have resulted in the Government being refunded by employers and insurers for the cost of treating asbestos disease patients.
The Bill was introduced by Mick Antoniw, a former solicitor who represented sufferers of asbestos related conditions. The NHS in Wales spends more than £2m each year treating those who suffer with asbestos diseases and Mr Antoniw hoped the Bill would allow the Welsh Government to recoup these costs from those who had caused the conditions or their associated insurers.
As would be expected, insurance firms opposed the proposal. They argued that refunding the Government was unnecessary and impractical. There were also worries over where the funds would come from as costs such as these had not been taken into account when the policies were initially taken out.
In addition to the concerns of where the money would come from, there were also issues surrounding where the money would go to. The proposal sought to recover repayments to the Welsh Government, rather than to the specific parts of the NHS where treatment was provided. This did not support the Bill’s purpose of refunding the NHS.
In spite of the opposition, the Bill was passed by the Welsh Assembly in 2013. However, industrial firms and insurance companies took the matter to the UK Supreme Court and this month, the Welsh Assembly was overruled.
The Welsh Assembly has the power to run their local NHS services as they see fit and this is demonstrated by those treated by Welsh GPs who do not have to pay for prescriptions. However, the Supreme Court found that the Assembly had overstepped its authority in passing the Bill. It was said that insurers should not be given additional liabilities for asbestos exposure which occurred decades before the Bill was passed.
This is not the first time that such a challenge has been brought to the Supreme Court but it is the first time the Welsh Assembly’s decision has been overturned.
Upon hearing the decision, Mr Antoniw said it was “a constitutional setback for the Assembly”. A spokesperson for the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said that the Bill “would have seen increased insurance premiums for Welsh businesses but no extra compensation for mesothelioma sufferers”.