LIBBY - Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt is promising to do what he can to help the asbestos clinic here stay open and to support research opportunities for the town's unique and toxic form of asbestos.

Leavitt visited Libby Friday at the behest of Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who wanted him to see for himself what health care providers and residents exposed to asbestos are going through. It was Leavitt's second trip to Libby.

Asbestos released into the air from the now-closed W.R. Grace and Co. vermiculite mine in Libby is blamed by some health authorities for killing about 200 people and sickening one of every eight residents there.

After spending an hour with doctors at the Center for Asbestos Related Disease, better known as the CARD clinic, Leavitt was greeted by a standing-room-only crowd at a town hall meeting.

"I'm impressed with the level of community spirit that went into the CARD clinic," Leavitt told the crowd. "We'll do what we can to keep it going."

The clinic, which treats more than 1,400 asbestos victims, was created with a $250,000 donation from Grace to St. John's Lutheran Hospital. It later formed its own nonprofit corporation, and now relies heavily on reimbursements from HNA, the company that administers Grace's medical insurance plan for asbestos patients.

Last fall, HNA sent letters to about 700 of 870 Libby area residents enrolled in the Grace plan, saying their benefits were being scaled back.

The uncertainty of the Grace plan has left the clinic facing an unpredictable future for sustainable health care services and research, said Dr. Brad Black, medical director of the CARD clinic.

"Medicare has turned down a lot of these patients," said Pulmonary expert Dr. Alan Whitehouse. "And when they have insurance through Grace and Grace says it won't pay, there's no funds, and that's getting to be a problem."

Leavitt quizzed the doctors about the "labyrinth of health care" resources for asbestos victims. "If they (Grace) don't pay, why do they view themselves as providing insurance?" Leavitt said.

He urged officials to tap the attorney general's office for assistance, and to be a part of the proceedings as Grace "divvies up" its pool of assets.

He and Baucus also listened to the personal stories of asbestos victims dealing with the disease and the red tape that accompanies medical treatment.

"I feel the affection you have for each other, how you take care of one another," Leavitt said. "Both of my visits here have been extraordinarily important in terms of learning. You can't understand it until you've been here. … I think we're on to something important here."