We need to get the word out: immediate repeal of the ACA, as they're planning,
could, on top of everything else, end disability payments for miners with black lung disease.
The late Senator Byrd made sure that the ACA included a provision that meant that miners with black lung disease no longer had the almost impossible job of proving that their work had caused the disease; they could qualify for disability as long as they had worked in the mines for 15 years and had the disease.
Repealing the ACA would prevent most miners with black lung from claiming disability -- and could even threaten the benefits of miners who have been approved for disability since the ACA was passed.
YES, these miners were wrong if they voted for DT and I've heard some DUers express a lack of sympathy for their plight because of that. But publicizing their situation will help draw attention to why the ACA should NOT be repealed. And the more we can delay the repeal, the more we can draw attention to the millions of other people who will be hurt by the repeal.
The GOP wants to repeal it as fast as possible. We need to stop them.
http://theweek.com/articles/664707/could-donald-trump-strip-miners-black-lung-benefits
The Affordable Care Act changed that. Under "Miscellaneous Provisions" is a small section sponsored by a self-proclaimed "child of the Appalachian coalfields," the late West Virginia Democratic Senator Robert Byrd.
The Byrd Amendments shifted the burden of proof from the miners onto the mining companies. If a miner has spent 15 years or more underground and can prove respiratory disability, then it is presumed to be black lung related to mine work, unless the company can prove otherwise.
SNIP
Even so, many coal miners and their advocates are concerned that their fates are tied to a piece of legislation that has, in a certain sense, just lost an election, especially in coal-producing states such as Kentucky and West Virginia. Lawyers working on this issue are worried that repeal of the ACA could mean no compensation for new claimants and the potential loss of benefits for anyone who won them since the law passed.
SNIP
The offices of Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania said they would fight any attempt to remove these protections from coal miners. A spokesperson for Kentucky Republican and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said by email that the senator has no "announcements on any legislative action for next Congress."
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