2017-01-05 Introduced in House This bill amends the Black Lung Benefits Act to preserve specified amendments made by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in the event those amendments are repealed. The amendments expanded the application of certain eligibility requirements for black lung benefits to claims that were pending on or after the enactment of PPACA. Those requirements: (1) established a rebuttable presumption for claims filed by a miner who worked at least 15 years in an underground coal mine that a disabling lung or respiratory condition was due to black lung disease, and (2) entitled the survivors of a miner who, before death, was determined to be eligible for benefits to those benefits without the survivors being required to revalidate the miner's claim. (Previously, survivors were required to prove that the miner's death was caused by black lung disease).

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