"Retired Miners Lament Trump’s Silence on Imperiled Health Plan"

"UNIONTOWN, Pa. — Donald J. Trump made coal miners a central metaphor of his presidential campaign, promising to 'put our miners back to work' and look after their interests in a way that the Obama administration did not.

Now, three months into his presidency, comes a test of that promise.

Unless Congress intervenes by late April, government-funded health benefits will abruptly lapse for more than 20,000 retired miners, concentrated in Trump states that include Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Many of the miners have serious health problems arising from their years in the mines.

In mining areas like Uniontown, Pa., and surrounding Fayette and Greene Counties, which Mr. Trump carried 2 to 1, it is an upsetting and potentially costly prospect. 'It’s just a terrible, terrible feeling,' said one of the retirees, David VanSickle, who spent four decades at work in the mines. 'I think about that 25 times a day.'"

Noam Scheiber reports for the New York Times April 19, 2017.