TARLE l.-Black lung benefits to miners and widows in current-payment status: ISumber and monthly amount by Notes and Brief Reports State, July 1970 I Number Monthly amount Black Lung Benefits, July 1970* state ~. - Total Mine%‘! ;a ridow! Total Miners Yidows A major part of the Federal Coal Mine Health Total. __ _.... 22.360 17,777 4,613 ;3,74?.683 3,047,332 695,351 and Safety Act of 1969 is concerned with the --- Alabama.- _.... -. 467 362 105 92,665 76,248 16,617 problem of an occupationally related respiratory Arkansas _._...... 75 13,582 9,969 “,,;g Florida ..___._.... 109 El iI? 19,111 16,221 disease - pneumoconiosis - among coal miners. Illinois . .._._._ -. 93 34 59 15,216 6,646 3: 570 Indiana . .._...... 64 11,494 7,882 3,612 This condition, known as black iung disease, is Kentucky...-...- 905 6:: ,“t 174,865 140.078 3;, ;i; Maryland ._...._ 64 45 19 7,271 dealt with in the law in terms of prevention and Michigan... 72 52 20 :::“5:; 8,601 2:975 of compensation to disabled coal miners and their 165 62 35,198 25,950 9,248 18,499 15,332 3,167 widows. 1;; 2 31,781 22,804 8,977 13,655 3,063 2,672,561 2,223,847 The .legislation establishes standards of per- 157 84 46,951 33,297 4267i: 453 194 127,366 96,055 31:311 missible levels of dust in underground coal mines 1,553 526 405,872 320,024 207 127 55,729 37,107 E: E and requires miners to take periodic chest X-rays. - A miner found to be developing pneumoconiosis must be given the opportunity to transfer to an percent for two dependents, and 100 percent for area of the mine with a lower concentration of three or more dependents. The following monthly dust at no loss in pay. amounts were payable in July 1970 to eligible Title IV of the Act provides monthly benefit persons : payments to miners totally disabled because of pneumoconiosis and to the widows of coal miners Miner or widow without dependents --------$144.50 who died from the disease. Operational responsi- Miner or widow with 1 dependent -_____--__ 216.70 Miner or widow with 2 dependents --~~-----~ 252.80 bility for the program is delegated to the Social Miner or widow with 3 or more dependents __ 288.90 Security Administration until December 1972. Black lung benefits are to be paid from general When a miner or widow is also receiving bene- funds of the 1T.S. Treasury, not from social fit payments under a State program of workmen’s security trust funds. compensation, unemployment compensation, or The first benefit checks payable to miners and disability benefits on account of the miner’s dis- widows of miners were received during the early ability, the black lung benefit payment is reduced part of May 1970. By the end of ,July, a total of by the amount of the State program payment. In 22,400 beneficiaries were receiving monthly black practice, this provision involves almost exclu- lung benefits. Of these, 17,800 were miners and sively State workmen’s compensation payments. 4,600 were widows (table 1). The OASDHI disability benefits of miners under age 62 may be reduced if the total amount of their black lung benefits and disability benefits exceeds 80 percent of their average earnings be- MONTHLY BENEFIT AMOUNTS fore disability. The Coal Mine Health and Safety Act relates the monthly black lung benefit to the salary levels of Federal employees. The basic amount is ADMINISTRATION equal to 50 percent of the minimum payment, a Federal employee at the entrance level of grade The Social Security Administration procedures 2 would receive if he were disabled by a job- for processing applications and determining eligi- related accident. The basic benefit is increased b;‘ity for benefits are similar to those used for when the miner or widow has dependents: 50 disability insurance benefits under the social percent for one dependent (wife or child), 75 security program. During the first 7 months of 1970, approximately 190,000 black lung claims *Prepared by Philip R. Lerner, Division of OASDI were received by social security district offices. Statistics, and Jack Schmulowitz, Division of Disability Studies. Although the bulk of the applications were filed BULLETIN, MARCH 1971 I 2s during the period immediately after the law was Luzerne County, located in eastern Pennsyl- passed-45,OOO during the first 2 weeks-claims vania, has more than 25 percent of all the bene- are still being received at a rate of almost 3,000 ficiaries-the largest black lung beneficiary popu- a week. Since benefits are payable from the month lation of any county. Its neighboring counties, in which an application is filed, the benefit rights Schuylkill and Lackawanna, rank second and of applicants are protected by their filing. third. Each of these three counties has more than After December 1972, the Secretary of Labor 1,000 black lung beneficiaries and together they will exercise supervision over black lung benefits. represent 47 percent of the total beneficiary popu- The program will be administered by State work- lation. These counties are part of the major hard- men’s compensation agencies making payments coal-producing area of the T;nited States. In under State laws and meeting Federal require- western Pennsylvania, Cambria County, which ments. produces soft coal, also has more than 1,000 bene- ficiaries. The accompanying chart sho& the prevalence of black lung beneficiaries in Pennsyl- vania and West Virginia, by county. GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION Pennsylvania is the major black lung area in the Nation with more than 75 percent of the total PAYMENTS TO MINERS, WIDOWS, beneficiary population. West Virginia follows with 9 percent, Kentucky with 4 percent, and Vir- AND DEPENDENTS ginia with nearly 3 percent. About 92 percent of A total of 22,400 coal miners and widows of the black lung beneficiaries reside in these four coal miners received monthly payments under the States (table 2). black lung program at the end of July 1970. They were receiving benefits at a monthly rate of $3.7 TABLE 2.-Black lung benefits to miners and widows in million, an average of $167 per payment. current-payment status: Counties with 100 or more bene- Monthly payments in July averaged $171 for ficiaries, July 1970 miners and $151 for widows. During the pre- Number Monthly amount ceding month, \vidows were receiving an average _ State and county of $45 more than miners. These differences re- Miners Widows flect a change in the application of the offset I I Total _____ _._____. 22.390 17,777 4,613 $3,742,683 $3,047,332 $695,351 provision for miners and widows receiving bene- ---_-_----__-- ____ Alabama: fits from Pennsylvania, as explained below. JefferSOn~~-~-~.~--... 295 221 74 58,639 46,827 11,812 Walker... _____.______ 124 104 20 24,634 21,600 3,034 The typical miner family, which includes more Kentucky: than 60 percent of the beneficiaries, consists of Floyd..-.--.----.-.-. 124 101 23 21,385 17,231 4,154 Harlan.--- ____. ---_-. 167 142 33,115 28,275 4,840 two persons-the miner and his wife. In ad- Pike _____ _..__ ___. 153 118 3”: 28,344 22,520 5,824 clition, 10 percent had two or more dependents. Pennsylvania: Alleghenyw.. ._._. _. 272 18 41,042 38,528 2,513 The families of miners include about 2,400 de- Cambria........ .._.. 1,024 143 192,629 170,906 21,723 Carbon _____ -_- ______ 399 136 85,163 65,618 19,545 pendent children. Clearfield ___._._.____ % 140 8 24,037 22,881 1,156 Columbia.- ._.. -.-__. 138 113 25 24.894 20,920 3,974 Nearly 47 percent of the widows receiving Fayette _____.... --.-. 361 43 62,876 56,796 6,080 Indiana.~.......~.... i?iE 298 52,921 49,254 3,667 benefits were widowed during t,he past 5 years. Lackawanna . .._ _._. 2,007 1,619 382: 330,047 274,699 55,348 LlX%rIle...- 5,726 4,496 ,230 913,738 732,471 181,267 About 30 percent had been widowed for as many Northumberland..... 855 675 180 140,400 114,001 26,399 Schuylkill...__._ -_-.. 2,753 2,164 589 433,025 348,112 84,913 as 10 years. Almost 90 percent of the widows Somerset _... -.--- . 538 466 72 91,331 80,004 11,327 Washington __.. -- . .._ 389 348 41 56,945 50,687 6,258 were receiving benefits only for themselves; the Westmoreland. ._.... 249 228 21 37,387 34,340 3,047 remainder had one or more children (table 3). Benefits were payable to more than 700 children of deceased coal miners, with widow and one-child West Virginia: Fayette.... .___. 298 219 ii 58,106 45,027 13,079 families comprising half the total (table 4). Logan __.. .__-. 221 168 42,113 34,176 7, !I37 McDowell-. .__._._.. 324 246 78 63,942 50,770 13.172 Payment data also indicate that widows tend to MeIXXr .___ _. ._.._.. __ 137 39 25,820 19,820 6,000 Raleigh.. ._.__._. ___. 514 3:; 1oo,3gg 78,105 22,294 move from the State in which they resided with 113 91 22 23,234 19,181 4,053 Wyoming ..__ -_-_.-.. their husbands: a large proportion of widows Allother.. .___.____ -.-. 1 4 , 078 1 3 , 076 1 1,0021 714,158/ 559,699I 154,459 reside in non-coal-mining States.