House Backs Easier Claims by Coal Miners

The House passed legislation Thursday that would make it easier for coal miners to seek benefits for black lung disease and protect them from losing money when their claims are rejected.

The Black Lung Benefits Restoration Act, approved by a 252-166 vote, would reverse a policy that requires miners to pay back any benefits they have already received if their claims are later ruled ineligible upon appeal.

The change is “common sense and simple justice,” said Rep. Frank McCloskey (D-Ind.). “How are we going to ask retired working people to pay back in many cases $30-, $40-, $50- or $60,000?”

The bill, which was sent to the Senate, simplifies the claim procedure by limiting miners to three medical exams and coal company defendants to one. It also makes workers at coke ovens eligible for black lung benefits.

The bill allows some 80,000 miners who have had claims rejected since 1982 to refile.

The current benefits system needs revision because it is weighted against claimants, said Rep. Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.). “It is a cruel hoax that is being perpetrated against hard-working citizens,” he argued.

Under the present system only 5% to 10% of claims are approved.

Black lung disease, caused by long-term inhalation of mine dust, afflicts about 250,000 people. Under legislation created in the 1969 Coal Mine Health and Safety Act and revised several times, those with the disease receive about $1.5 billion annually from former employers and the Federal Black Lung Trust Fund.

Opponents of the bill contended that it will bankrupt the trust fund, which they said is $3.9 billion in debt.

“It’s a trust fund buster,” said Rep. Harris W. Fawell (R-Ill.). “This is a catastrophe in terms of money for the taxpayers.”

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill will cost the federal government $195.5 million over five years.

The National Coal Assn. has put the cost at $1 billion over that same period.