Bounds is one of about 38,000 miners or eligible survivors — usually a spouse — currently receiving black lung benefits. The benefits are compensation for the physical damage Bounds sustained while doing his job. It took him 4 1/2 years to get approved, despite the fact that his lungs are so bad he has to stop moving to talk.
But now the qualification process is supposed to move faster. The Affordable Care Act includes special provisions that make the process of getting black lung benefits easier for coal miners. If the ACA is repealed, gaining these benefits could become much more difficult, effectively harming a group of people that President Trump has promised to protect.
"Coal company lawyers would doctor shop around the country and find two, three, four, five, seven doctors to say, 'Yes this miner is disabled, but it's not because of black lung,'" she says.
The Affordable Care Act includes something called the
Byrd Amendments. One shifts the burden of proof — instead of miners having to prove that mining caused their black lung, the coal companies have to prove that mining didn't.
"You still have to prove the 100 percent disability, which is hard," says Wills. "But if you can prove that, and if you've worked 15 or more years or longer in the mines, then you're entitled to a presumption that your disease arose from your coal mine employment."
Another part provides lifetime benefits to certain dependents who survive the death of a miner, if the miner had been receiving the benefits before death.
If the ACA is repealed without a replacement, cases that were approved after the ACA went into effect could be reopened, leaving the miner or survivor vulnerable to losing the benefits. And, the burden of proof may shift again, making it difficult for applicants to qualify.
Obamacare Repeal Threatens A Health Benefit Popular In Coal Country
