The Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act of 2025
At a Glance
Bill numbers: S. 3491 / H.R. 6756
Senate sponsors: Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and John Fetterman (D-Pa.)
House sponsors: Reps. Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Andre Carson (D-In.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mi.), Maxine Dexter (D-Or.)
Main goal: Make the federal black lung benefits system fairer, faster, and more accessible
Who it helps: Coal miners with black lung disease, surviving spouses, dependents, and families
Key reforms: Legal support, medical evidence access, inflation adjustments for benefits, faster claims, Trust Fund protections
Bill Overview
Coal miners with black lung disease are entitled to medical care and monthly disability benefits, but too many miners and surviving family members face a system that is difficult to maneuver, costly, and can be stacked against them in favor of coal operators. The Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act (BLBIA) would strengthen the federal black lung benefits program so that miners and their families can have a fairer chance to access the compensation and health care that they deserve.
The bill would help more coal miners and their surviving dependents secure legal representation, improve their access to medical evidence during proceedings, reduce the delays in claims decisions, update benefits so that they are not eroded by inflation, and strengthen the protections of the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund when coal companies fail to meet their obligations. These reforms are particularly urgent now as black lung continues to rise all across the Appalachian coalfields.
What the Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act would do
Improve the Benefits Process for Miners and Survivors
The Problem: Sick miners are forced into a complicated legal fight with coal operators who have more resources
Black lung benefits are supposed to provide medical care and a modest monthly stipend to support miners disabled by black lung disease and to their eligible surviving family members and dependents. But, in practice, many miners and survivors have to navigate a lengthy, technical, adversarial process while facing up against coal companies, insurers, doctors, and company lawyers who have far greater resources at their disposal.
Congressional findings in the BLBIA itself note that claimants may lack the medical and legal resources that are needed to develop the evidence that is required to win benefits. For example, only 42% of claimants are represented by an attorney during the initial claims process, leaving many miners and their survivors to navigate a complex process without the help of legal counsel.
How the BLBIA helps: The bill would expand the assistance for miners and survivors when filing claims by improving access to legal representation and helping to cover attorney fees and medical evidence costs in qualifying cases.
Improve Access to Medical Evidence
The Problem: Miners often struggle to get the medical evidence that they need to prove that they have black lung.
Black lung claims can often be decided based on complex medical evidence. Miners may need X-rays, CT scans, biopsies, autopsies, pulmonary testing, and expert medical opinions to prove that they in fact have black lung disease and that it is connected to their coal mine employment. For sick miners in rural areas, especially for those without legal help, getting and presenting that evidence may be a major barrier.
The BLBIA recognizes this fact that miners need stronger support in the development of medical evidence as well as clearer rules for proving severe forms of the disease, including PMF.
How the BLBIA helps: The bill would clarify what medical evidence can be used to prove complicated black lung and require that the Department of Labor help to develop supplemental medical evidence in certain contested claims.
Address Conflicts of Interest and Unreliable Medical Opinions
The Problem: The system for black lung claims can rely on medical opinions that are unfair, biased, or unreliable.
For decades, miners have raised concerns that some medical opinions that are used in black lung claims are shaped by the influence of prominent coal companies or repeated work for operators and their insurers. When a miner’s claim depends on technical medical readings, one unreliable or biased interpretation can make the difference between receiving benefits and being denied.
The BLBIA can respond to this concern by strengthening the protections around medical evidence and addressing cases where claims may have been denied due to chest X-ray interpretations that were later determined to be unreliable or discredited.
How the BLBIA helps: The bill would limit the use of certain physicians with recent ties to coal operators, insurers, or opposing parties, and it would allow readjudication of certain claims involving discredited chest radiograph evidence.
Restore Benefit Adjustments so that Payments Keep with Inflation
The Problem: Monthly black lung disability benefits have not kept up with the cost of living.
Even when miners or their survivors win benefits cases, the payments that they receive are often modest. Current black lung benefit payments are tied to federal employee salary scales rather than other measures of inflation. When federal pay is frozen or rises slowly, miners and their survivors do not receive a true cost of living adjustment.
A single miner with no dependents, for example, is eligible for just $785 per month, roughly two-thirds of what that benefit would have been worth in 1970 after adjusting for inflation. A recent GAO report (2026) found that some miners, especially those under the age of 62, may be relying heavily on federal black lung monthly benefits alone, which averaged around $13,400 annually for those receiving only federal disability benefits.
How the BLBIA helps: The bill would restore stronger annual benefit adjustments by tying future increases to inflation, helping miners and their surviving family members keep up with rising costs.
Reduce Delays in Black Lung Cases
The Problem: Delays in cases can outlast a miner’s life and interim benefits may be too risky for many families.
Because black lung is a progressive disease, many miners may face long delays in the claims process, sometimes going without income or medical support while their health worsens.
A 2026 GAO report found that among miners whose claims were ultimately approved by mid-August 2024, and who died between January 2013 and mid-August 2024, 2,620 miners died before their claim was closed. GAO also found that interim benefits can create uncertainty because miners may have to repay those benefits if the final decision later goes against them. Few miners and survivors use interim benefits out of fear that those benefits could later be removed and they would be forced to pay them back.
How the BLBIA helps: The bill would require the Department of Labor to create a strategy to reduce delays in black lung claims, including a plan to reduce cases pending before administrative law judges to less than 12 months.
Protect the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund
The Problem: Coal companies can shift company black lung costs onto miners, families, and the public.
The black lung benefits system is intended to hold coal operators responsible for the disease caused by coal mine employment. But when coal companies go bankrupt, fail to pay, or do not adequately secure their black lung liabilities, the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund may be left to pay out these benefits instead.
The GAO has repeatedly warned that the Trust Fund faces financial risks from coal operators defaulting on their liabilities and going bankrupt. In a 2024 report, GAO noted that bankruptcies of self-insured coal operators from 2014 through 2016 transferred an estimated $865 million in benefit responsibility to the Trust Fund.
How the BLBIA helps: The bill would strengthen standards for coal operators seeking to self-insure and require better policies for securing benefit payments, helping to ensure that coal operators - not miners, families, or taxpayers - are held responsible for black lung liabilities.
Tell Congress: Update the Black Lung Benefits System
Coal miners and their families deserve a benefits system that is fair, timely, and strong enough to meet today’s black lung crisis. Congress should pass the Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act to help miners and survivors access the benefits they have earned.