United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2002-04-18 monographic deposited born digital GA 1.13:GAO-02-243 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-243 P0b002ee18038395b f:d02243 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-243 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-243 GAO-02-243 Coalminers benefits Employee retirement plans Retirement benefits Health insurance Health care costs Health care cost control Beneficiaries Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund Medicare Program UMWA Combined Benefit Fund UMWA Health Fund UMWA Retirement Fund United Mine Workers of America 1992 Benefit Plan Other Written Product A03104 Retired Coal Miners' Health Benefit Funds: Financial Challenges Continue (18-APR-02, GAO-02-243). In 1992, more than 100,000 retired coal miners and their spouses and dependents faced a potential decrease in their employment-related health insurance coverage or loss of such coverage altogether. Some former employers had stopped mining coal or gone out of business and were no longer contributing to the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) retiree benefit funds. To ensure that these individuals would continue to receive the health benefits specified in previous collective bargaining agreements reached with coal companies, often gained in exchange for lower pensions, Congress enacted the Coal Industry Retiree Health Benefit Act of 1992 (Coal Act). The Coal Act replaced the existing UMWA benefit funds with the Combined Benefit Fund (CBF) and the 1992 Benefit Plan. These funds' benefits requires less cost sharing by beneficiaries and provides more extensive coverage than benefit packages offered by the major manufacturing companies and companies with unionized workforces. However, the extent of coverage is generally comparable. The cost of health care for the Funds' beneficiaries in 1999 was about 29 percent higher than for demographically similar Medicare beneficiaries with employer-sponsored insurance. The Funds' officials have attempted to control costs largely through approaches that do not reduce or limit the benefits for beneficiaries, do not increase beneficiary cost sharing requirements, or that have a minimal impact on beneficiaries. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-243/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-243.htm GAO-02-243 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-243 Other Written Product GAO-02-243; Retired Coal Miners' Health Benefit Funds: Financial Challenges Continue; Coalminers benefits Employee retirement plans Retirement benefits Health insurance Health care costs Health care cost control Beneficiaries Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund Medicare Program UMWA Combined Benefit Fund UMWA Health Fund UMWA Retirement Fund United Mine Workers of America 1992 Benefit Plan Volume 91 Page 445 91 Stat. 445 Public Law 95-87 Public Law 102-486