Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Representatives Matt Cartwright (PA-17), Bobby Scott (VA-03) and U.S. Senator Bob Casey (PA) proposed sweeping reforms to the federal program that provides benefits to coal miners suffering from black lung disease. Federal law requires that coal companies compensate miners with disabilities who contract black lung, which is caused by inhaling coal dust over an extended period of time, but coal companies routinely deploy an array of unfair tactics to avoid paying miners the benefits they deserve.
To help level the playing field for miners battling this debilitating, potentially fatal disease, the Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act of 2015 was introduced by Cartwright, Casey, and Scott, along with Senators Joe Manchin (WV), Sherrod Brown (OH), Mark Warner (VA) and Tim Kaine (VA), as well as Representative Frederica Wilson (FL-17).
“There is undeniable evidence that, as thousands of miners are being affected by black lung, coal company lawyers are determined to exploit loopholes preventing miners and their families from receiving the benefits they deserve. This legislation is needed to ensure that miners are able to obtain unbiased medical evidence, ample representation, and up-to-date benefit payments,” said Rep. Cartwright.
“We can’t stop working at this issue until we achieve a basic measure of justice for those miners who suffer from black lung disease,” Senator Casey said. “We know the black lung claims process is badly broken and in need of reform to target unethical legal and medical practices and to give miners a fair shot at justice. This is a commonsense approach that ensures impacted miners and their families don’t have the deck stacked against them.”
“Coal miners face a number of challenges pursuing federal black lung claims, including finding legal representation and developing sound medical evidence to support their claims,” said Rep. Bobby Scott. “The Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act of 2015 ensures that miners have equal access to medical evidence and better access to legal resources. It also provides a remedy for those whose claims were denied due to recent discoveries of discredited medical evidence. This legislation will help miners and their families get the benefits they deserve.”
Analysis by the Center for Public Integrity and ABC News found that doctors who are paid by coal companies have systematically misdiagnosed miners with black lung as having other diseases, thus preventing the miners from accessing benefits. Furthermore, hearings in the U.S. Senate showed that coal company lawyers have caused some miners’ claims to be denied by withholding medical evidence that proves that the miner has black lung.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Labor has taken several steps to address the issues identified in these reports, but without congressional action, disabled coal miners who deserve black lung benefits will continue to be unfairly denied.
The Black Lung Benefits Act of 2015 will strengthen the black lung benefits program by:
Improving miners’ access to medical evidence
- Requiring full disclosure of medical information related to a claim, whether or not such information is entered as evidence
- Helping miners review and rebut potentially biased or inaccurate medical evidence developed by coal companies
- Allowing miners or their survivors to reopen their cases if they had been denied because of medical interpretations that have subsequently been discredited
- Establishing a pilot program in the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to provide unbiased evidence for the most severe black lung cases
Helping miners access better, more timely benefits
- Adjusting black lung benefits to increases in the cost of living
- Helping claimants secure legal representation by providing interim attorney fees if miners prevail at various stages of their claim
- Developing a strategy to reduce the backlog of black lung benefits claims still awaiting consideration
For a section by section overview of the bill, see here. For a list of changes to the Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act of 2015 compared with the Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act of 2014, see here.
