“It worries me so much that I just want to give up,” Sue Meade told Democratic Rep. Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky in a Zoom meeting on August 8.
Meade, of Wise County, Virginia, spoke about her struggles to receive monthly benefits for silicosis from the Department of Labor. Her husband, Raymond Meade, died of the disease in 2021 after working as an underground coal miner for 37.5 years.
When miners are diagnosed with pneumoconiosis, they are eligible for disability benefits through the federal pneumoconiosis claim process. These benefits are paid by their former employer or, in some cases, the Department of Labor. After the miner dies, these benefits are paid to surviving spouses if the miner has already been awarded lifetime benefits.
Yet sometimes, as in the case of Sue Meade, miners’ survivors receive interim monthly benefits from the Department of Labor while the coal company involved argues in court that pneumoconiosis was not the cause of the miner’s death. This can happen if the miner dies while applying for the pneumoconiosis program, or if he never applied. When such objections make the exact cause of the miner’s death so unclear, the Department of Labor can stop paying benefits to the widow and claw back any benefits the widow has already received.
The virtual meeting earlier this month included widows and adult children of miners from Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia who died of black lung disease, gathered in their respective states. It was organized by Vonda Robinson, vice president of the National Black Lung Association and the wife of a miner, in collaboration with McGarvey’s staff after the two met earlier this year during a Black Lung Association citizen lobbying trip to Washington, DC. The goal of the meeting was to give the widows a chance to tell their personal stories directly to McGarvey.
McGarvey is the lead sponsor of the Relief for Survivors of Miners Act, colloquially known as the “widows’ bill,” in the House. A similar bill is being introduced in the Senate by Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. The bill would make the process for awarding black lung benefits fairer for widows and other dependents of miners who die of black lung. Robinson and other members of the Black Lung Association want the bill to become law before a new Congress is sworn in in January.
“They took away my (dust lung) benefits. I’m not getting anything,” Meade told McGarvey and three rooms in three states full of widows and adult children of miners. “But I’m glad to be here. I hope I can do something and help someone else get their (dust lung) benefits.”
“On a policy level, I have a pretty simple view of this,” McGarvey said. “These are benefits. They are not gifts. They were paid in. They were earned. They are deserved… We will continue to push for policy fixes to make it easier for widows and families.”
The Miners’ Survivors’ Assistance Act would reinstate silicosis as a presumptive cause of death for all miners who die of a respiratory disease – as it was until 1981. By making it clear that the coal company must prove that the miner did not die of silicosis, rather than requiring the widow to prove that silicosis was the miner’s cause of death, this bill would make the claims process easier for survivors grieving the loss of a loved one.
The bill would provide federal funds to pay a portion of the legal and medical costs that survivors incur when applying for silicosis benefits, thereby reducing some of the financial barriers to accessing this benefit program. It would also direct the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office to prepare a report on the financial impact of cutting survivor benefits and identify other ways to improve the application process and benefits for survivors.
On the conference call, advocates also discussed another bill called the Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act, introduced by Senator Bob Casey (D-Penn.) and Representative Matt Cartwright (D-Penn.). This bill would increase the amount of monthly black lung benefits and make several changes to the application process to make it easier for miners and their families. The monthly black lung benefit is currently $772.60 for miners, plus $386.30 for a financially dependent family member and just under $200 for each additional dependent family member. The amount is not adjusted for inflation and therefore has not kept pace with the needs of miners’ families.
This is the amount of benefit that a miner’s widow is entitled to if he dies of pneumoconiosis. But Sue Meade’s family, like many others, are denied or demanded back even this amount.
“It’s hard to see my mom go through this,” says her son Randall Meade.
He himself worked in the mines for 43 years and during the Zoom meeting he expressed his frustration at the difficulty he himself has in getting benefits for pneumoconiosis, but he spoke especially about the benefits his mother no longer receives.
“My mother deserves it,” says Randall Meade. “All of these women deserve it. Something should be done. This is not right. She needs help. All of these women need help.”
To show your support for the Meade family and others in a similar situation, Send a letter to your legislators and urged them to support the Miners’ Survivors’ Relief Act and the Silicosis Benefits Improvement Act.
