Coal
Miners with Black Lungs
Deep
in the heart of coal country,
folks
watch the health care battle
Coal Miners with Black Lungs
have
President Barrack Obama's
Affordable Healthcare,
pay no or very little for their life saving medications,
while voting for Trump,
and
are saying that they
plan to vote for him
again?
During the 2016 presidential campaign, then-candidate Trump
repeatedly expressed his
support for coal miners and their communities.
Voters in the country’s old mining regions of Appalachia rewarded these
promises with overwhelming
electoral support.
Yet this
Friday, more than 22,000 retired union coal miners
in seven states
whose former companies went bankrupt
over the past few years
are bound to lose their
if Congress is unable to agree
on a
permanent
or
temporary fix
Republicans
want to turn
effort to save coal miners
into gift
for
coal mining companies
By Mark Sumner
Friday Apr 28, 2017
Though there are fewer than 50,000 coal miners currently working,
there are over 89,000 on the UMWA funds.
Of those, 22,000
are the
responsibility of companies that have already used bankruptcy
to slide out from
under their responsibility to the fund.
Congress gave the fund a temporary
boost in December,
but without immediate action,
those 22,000 miners will face
a loss of
both medical care and pension benefits
in a matter of days.
The treatment for coal worker's pneumoconiosis often includes bronchodilator
medications, inhaled corticosteroids, chest physical
therapy, and oral corticosteroids. Some may benefit from
home oxygen
therapy.