§9712 Establishment and coverage of 1992 UMWA Benefit Plan

Summary

Create a new private plan called the United Mine Workers of America 1992 Benefit Plan as soon as possible after this law passed. The plan will be treated as tax-exempt and as an employee welfare, multiemployer plan under federal law. The people who set up the plan will design how it works and pick and remove the trustees. The board of trustees will start with five members. Any money transferred to the plan under section 402(h) and (i) of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 must go into the plan and be used to pay health benefits for people who do not have a monthly premium paid for them. The plan will only cover eligible beneficiaries who are not covered by the Combined Fund. An eligible beneficiary is someone who would have been eligible for the 1950 or 1974 UMWA Benefit Plans based on age and service as of February 1, 1993, or someone the law requires to be covered under section 9711 but who did not get coverage from their last signatory operator. The health benefits must be basically the same as those in the 1950 and 1974 plans as of January 1, 1992. The plan can use managed-care and cost-control rules (for example, drug formularies, discounts for preferred providers, limits tied to Medicare payment amounts, utilization review, and network providers), but any such system must be approved by a medical peer review panel set up by the settlors or by the UMWA and operators. 1988 last signatory operators must pay a monthly per-beneficiary premium, provide security (bond, letter of credit, or cash escrow) for future costs, and pay an extra backstop premium if required transfers from section 402 are short. Other last signatory operators must pay the monthly premium for their beneficiaries. Operators and related persons are jointly and severally responsible for required payments; section 9711(c)(2) rules apply and, if security meeting 9711(c)(3) is provided, the common parent named in 9711(c)(2)(B) is exclusively responsible for certain liabilities. Premiums are deductible regardless of prefunding limits. A “1988 last signatory operator” means a last signatory operator that is a 1988 agreement operator.