Industry Group May Oppose Asbestos Fund

Insurers threatened to withdraw their support for a Senate proposal to set up a national fund for compensating asbestos victims, saying the price tag may be too high.

The warning from the American Insurance Assn. threatened to unravel a deal between business and insurers that is set for a committee vote next week.

The cost of the bill to insurers had to remain within the “core program funding” agreed to earlier this year, association President Robert Vagley wrote to Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), the main Senate sponsor of the asbestos fund proposal, referring to a $45-billion pledge insurers had made.

Vagley said that adding billions in contingent funding in case the fund ran dry raised serious concerns.

A spokesman for Hatch could not be reached for comment.