Italy's indexing, minimum benefits, and pension reform.

I " addltmn, the clams for cash benefits of some 70,000 persons prevtously disallowed by the Department of Labor ~111 be rewewed Clams re-caved and allowed by that agency wdl be payable re-troactwely to the onset of dtsabthty or, ,f that date cannot be determined, to the date of request for review of the cly~m, but no earher than January 1, 1974 Medical Benefits Before the amendments, medtcal benefits for condo-ttons resulting from pneumocomosls were payable to mmers recewtng cash benefits under Part C of the program (clmms filed after December 31, 1973, and ad-mtmstered by the Department of Labor) Mmers re-cervtng Part B cash benefits (claims filed on or before December 31, 1973, and admlnlstered by the Socral Se-curlty Admlnlstratmn) now may also qualify for medical benefits under administration of the Department of Labor for the,, lung duorders The Soaal Secur,ty Administration will notify all Part B benefuarles of this prowston Beneficiaries ~111 then have 6 months I " which to churn medal benefits Offset for Workers' Compensation Payments Fmmerly, Part B benefits were offset by the amount of workers' compensation payments received for any type of dlsablhty The law now provtdes that Part B benefits ~111 be offset I " the same way as Part C benefits The offset will be made only for that part of the workers' compensatmn benefit bemg pad for dlsablhty caused by miners' pneumoconmsis The cost of this change to the Sow11 Security Admmtstratmn has been estimated at $8-$10 million annually through 1982 Black Lung Disability Trust Fund Before the I977 amendments, the cost of benefits not attributable to individual employers was fmanced through general revenues Pubhc Law 95-227 estab-hshes a black lung dlsabtltty tmst fund to finance the cost of claims involving mmers whose last employment was before January 1, 1970, and those for whom no responsible coal-mme operator has been identlfwd The fund ~111 also pay the admmtstrattve expenses involved m nnplementmg the I977 amendments for both the Department of Labor and the Soaal Security Admmistra-tmn The fund ~111 be supported by an excise tax payable by all local coalmine operators, except where a State law has bee " certified by the Secretary of Labor as providing adequate coverage for pneumoconmsas The tax will be levied on coal mined at the rate of 50 cents per ton for underground coal and 25 cents per ton for surface-mined coal, but the amount …