In 1992, certain retired coal miners and their spouses and dependents more than 100,000 individuals in all faced a potential decrease in their employment-related health insurance coverage or loss of such coverage altogether. Some former employers had stopped mining coal or gone out of business, so they were no longer contributing to the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) retiree benefit funds. To ensure that these individuals would continue to receive the health benefits specified in previous collective bargaining agreements reached with coal companies, often gained in exchange for lower pensions, the Congress enacted the Coal Industry Retiree Health Benefit Act of 1992 (Coal Act). The Coal Act replaced the existing UMWA retiree health benefit funds with the Combined Benefit Fund (CBF) and the 1992 Benefit Plan collectively referred to in this report as the Funds. The act specified how each fund would be financed by the coal miners former employers and other sources to cover the health care costs not paid for by Medicare. In 2001, there were about 55,000 beneficiaries in the CBF and about 6,000 in the 1992 Benefit Plan. The health plans are administered by the United Mine Workers of America Health and Retirement Funds (UMWAF).