The bill as reported features a fixed schedule of benefits, while the adequacy of funding is addressed through a number of various contingency measures (e.g., the guaranteed payment account). The revenue side of the equation thus becomes a bit complicated. It should be recognized that the "headline" figure of $114 billion is a goal or estimate rather than a fixed mandate. Actual assessments on defendant companies will be determined by their assignment into tiers and sub-tiers, these defined by the companies' historical asbestos payments and recent (2002) sales revenue. Annual assessments (for 23 years) will range from $25 million (a company with historical asbestos payments greater than $75 million and falling within the top quintile of these companies by revenue) to the smallest assessment, $100 thousand (a company with asbestos payments of $1 - $5 million and revenues in the smallest third of these companies). This scheme is intended to raise $57.5 billion from defendant companies over 23 years. The bill also requires $46 billion from the insurance industry, but leaves the allocation among companies to a special commission (Subtitle II B)."

The possibility of temporary shortfalls in the early years will be dealt with below under "Transition Issues."

Compensation Adequacy

The diagnostic categories and their compensable amounts are shown in Table 1. At least three types of consideration have guided the development of these numbers: (1) the pattern of awards given by courts or agreed in settlements, (2) the severity of symptoms and prognosis for each category, and (3) the likelihood that asbestos is the principal cause of disease. For example, non-lung cancers (Level VI) are paid less than one-sixth of what is paid for mesothelioma (Level X). This is both because mesothelioma is one of the most lethal of cancers (usually resulting in death within 18 months) and because mesothelioma is almost always caused by asbestos. 's Values within Levels VII to IX are to be determined by the fund administrator within the ranges shown, by devising a "matrix" that takes into account the amount of asbestos exposure, age at diagnosis (higher awards for younger claimants), and smoking history (Sec. 131(b)(3)). (Diagnosis categories are discussed in more detail in the next section.)

¹⁷Section 404 adjusts the obligations of insurers and reinsurers to each other and to defendant companies.