Black Lung Benefits Reform Act

[AI summary unavailable — showing source text] Black Lung Benefits Reform Act - Provides that employment in a coke oven area where the coal dust is substantially equivalent to that in underground coal mines at the time of employment shall be deemed to be employment of a miner in an underground coal mine for entitlement to black lung benefits. Provides that, for the purposes of eligibility for benefits under the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, if a miner was employed for twenty-five years or more in one or more underground coal mines there shall be a rebuttable presumption that he is totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis, that his death was due to pneumoconiosis, or that at the time of his death he was totally disabled by pneumoconiosis, and such presumption may be rebutted only by the negative result of a blood-gas study. Provides that if a miner was employed for thirty-five years or more in one or more underground coal mines there shall be an irrebuttable presumption that he is totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis, that his death was due to pneumoconiosis, or that at the time of his death he was totally disabled by pneumoconiosis. Provides that the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare shall not apply…