FIRST ANNUAL REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF

PART B OF TITLE IV OF THE FEDERAL COAL MINE HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT OF 1969

INTRODUCTION

On December 30, 1969, President Nixon signed into law the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 (Public Law 91-173) enacted by the 91st Congress.

The primary purpose of the Act is to protect the health and safety of the Nation's coal miners. In furtherance of this objective, the law sets standards on the fire protection, roof supports, escape ways, and communications systems required. To reduce the incidence of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (a lung disease resulting from breathing coal dust commonly called "black lung"), the law requires that chest X-rays be taken upon employment in an underground coal mine and periodically thereafter. A miner found to be developing the disease is given the option of transferring to a less dusty part of the mining operation.

Title IV of the Act is entitled "Black Lung Benefits." This report deals specifically with Part B of Title IV of the Act which provides for monthly cash benefit payments from general tax funds to coal miners totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis arising out of employment in underground coal mines, and to widows of coal miners who died from the disease.

The law imposes responsibility for administration of Part B of Title IV and related provisions on the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. (The Secretary also carries responsibilities under other titles of the Act, not covered in the present report, for setting standards for medical examinations and autopsies of coal miners under Title II of the Act and undertaking such studies, research, experiments and demonstrations as may be appropriate under Title V of the Act.) Within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, primary responsibility for the administration of Part B of Title IV has been delegated to the Social Security Administration.

The responsibility of the Department is limited to claims filed before 1973 with exceptions for widows under certain circumstances. For a miner to become eligible under Part B, he must file a claim before January 1, 1973, and there is an added limitation that if the miner files after December 31, 1971, his benefits under this part must be terminated on December 31, 1972. (See below for continuation of benefits after 1972 under Part C of the Act.)

For a widow to qualify under Part B, the miner must have died before January 1, 1973, or he would have had to be entitled to Part B benefits at the time of his death. In the latter situation, even though the miner's death does not occur until after December 31, 1972, the widow may still qualify under Part B upon filing timely application.

In 1973, administrative responsibility for other new claims (and for any continuation of miners' benefits awarded on claims filed in 1972) will shift to the Department of Labor. Under Part C of Title IV of the Act, these claims will be processed through workmen's compensation agencies in States which have enacted appropriate legislation to provide comparable benefit payments, and the prescribed coverage. In States which have not enacted such appropriate legislation, these claims will be processed through the Department of Labor.1

However, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare retains long-term responsibility for prescribing standards for determining whether a miner is totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis and for determining whether the death of a miner was due to pneumoconiosis. These standards will have a direct effect on the provisions of State workmen's compensation laws, since the standards for determining total disability or death due to pneumoconiosis in these laws must be substantially equivalent to those established by the Secretary to comply with the requirements of Part C of Title IV.

1 The Secretary of Labor has issued regulations relating to the payment of benefits under Part C of the Act after 1972. (29 Code of Fed. Reg. Part 1520, 36 Fed. Reg. No. 52, March 17, 1971). In accordance with these regulations, under an approved State workmen's compensation law, payment of benefits under Part C is required after 1972 for total disability or death due to pneumoconiosis to claimants receiving benefits on claims filed under Part B in calendar year 1972.

The Social Security Administration established liaison with the Department of Labor as soon as work on the black lung benefits program began. Maintenance of this liaison should facilitate the Labor Department's implementation of the Part C provisions beginning in 1973.

CHAPTER I-BLACK LUNG BENEFITS PAYABLE UNDER TITLE IV

Purpose of benefit provisions

Section 401 of the Act, which pertains to the "black lung" benefit provisions, states explicitly the objectives of Title IV as follows:

Congress finds and declares that there are a significant number of coal miners living today who are totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis arising out of employment in one or more of the Nation's underground coal mines; that there are a number of survivors of coal miners whose deaths were due to this disease; and that few States provide benefits for death or disability due to this disease to coal miners or surviving dependents. It is therefore, the purpose of this title to provide benefits, in cooperation with the States, to coal miners who are totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis and to the surviving dependents of miners whose death was due to such disease; and to ensure that in the future adequate benefits are provided to coal miners and their dependents in the event of their death or total disability due to pneumoconiosis.

Types of benefits

Part B of Title IV of the Act provides two basic benefits: (1) benefits to coal miners totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis arising out of employment in underground coal mines and (2) benefits to widows of underground coal miners who were entitled to benefits based on such disability or died due to pneumoconiosis. The age of the miner or widow does not matter and, until 1973, it does not matter how long ago the disability began or when the miner died.

Though benefits are not paid directly to wives and children, the amount of benefits payable to a miner or widow is augmented (increased) where there are qualified dependents. No benefits may be paid for any period prior to the date a claim therefor is filed. Where a miner found to be totally disabled is employed or self-employed, his benefits are subject to reduction on account of excess earnings under the social security annual earnings retirement test. Earnings of widows, wives, and children do not require a reduction in the amount of black lung benefits payable. Black lung benefits of a miner or widow are reduced by the amount of State workmen's compensation, unemployment compensation, or State disability insurance payments received based on the miner's disability.

The amount of the basic black lung benefit payable monthly to an entitled miner or widow is defined as 50 percent of the current minimum monthly payment payable to a totally disabled Federal employee in grade GS-2 under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act. If the miner or widow has qualified dependents, the benefit amount is augmented based on the number of such dependents-50 percent of the basic benefit for one dependent, 75 percent for two dependents, and 100 percent for three or more dependents. Since the benefit rate is indirectly tied to Federal employee salary scales, benefit increases are automatically payable when Federal salaries are increased. There have been two such increases totalling approximately 12 percent since enactment. Each time, the increase was paid promptly with the claimant's benefit check for the first month for which the increase was payable.

CHAPTER II-INITIATING PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION

When the Act was signed by the President on December 30, 1969, the Social Security Administration had been on notice for about 2 weeks that it might be involved in the administration of the benefit provisions in Part B. This fact is significant in viewing in perspective the task faced in undertaking the implementation of these provisions, particularly since the law was made effective with the date of its signature by the President, with benefits to begin for eligible claimants with the month in which they filed their claims, and with no provision for payment of benefits in any case prior to the time of filing.

With virtually no lead time to prepare for the administration of this legislation, the Social Security Administration was immediately faced with the urgent need for quick action on several major fronts. First, potentially eligible claimants needed to be told about the program and to be urged to file application as promptly as possible to avoid possible loss of benefits. Second, the Act required the promulgation and publication, within 3 months of the date of enactment, of a body of administrative regulations promulgating policy criteria for determining when a person should be considered totally disabled due to coal workers' pneumoconiosis and when death could be found to be due to pneumoconiosis. Third, administrative procedures, regulations, and other mechanisms had to be devised for taking applications, developing necessary evidence, determining all necessary factors of entitlement, and establishing and continuing benefit payments. It was necessary to take action on all of these fronts simultaneously in order to avoid loss of benefits to claimants and to process claims with reasonable promptness.

As an example of the response to these needs, on the day the Act was signed, every social security district office in the Nation was provided by teletype informational material for widely publicizing the new benefit provisions among potential eligibles and given emergency instructions for the acceptance of applications under the new law. As a result of this action and other publicity given to the new program, 18,000 applications were filed in the first week after enactment and in the first month almost 100,000 applications had been filed by miner and widow claimants.

The huge initial volume of claims, and the need to swiftly marshal the full range of resources to manage it effectively, presented immediate operating problems of major dimensions.

The Social Security Administration began to develop (1) the necessary substantive rules for determining who would be eligible for benefits under the program, and (2) the medical criteria for determining when a miner is totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis or when his death could be attributed to the disease. Action was taken immediately to seek consultation with professional and other groups and individuals whose experience and interest could be most relevant and helpful