Miners signing up for insurance help after Horizon sale

BENTON, Ill. -- Coal miners lined up for union health insurance Wednesday, vowing to fight a court decision that released their former employer from having to pay for the coverage.

The group is among some 5,000 retired and active miners and their dependents in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia who lost their insurance when a bankrupt Horizon Natural Resources was sold to financier Wilbur Ross Jr. and Massey Energy early this month.

Horizon officials had argued in bankruptcy court that the company, which was based in Ashland, Ky., should be allowed to drop its union contracts since upholding them would make their coal mines harder to sell. The court agreed.

The United Mine Workers of America is offering to insure the 5,000 people with money from its Selective Strike Fund for six months as it appeals the court ruling and lobbies Congress to step in.

Hundreds of people have been lining up in all four states to sign up for the insurance, and are expected to continue to all week.