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The trust fund set up to benefit retirees who lost health care coverage in the bankruptcies of four steel companies – Bethlehem, LTV, Acme Metals and Georgetown Steel – has announced a new benefit.

A portion of the assets of the trust, now known as the Mittal Steel USA Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA), will be used this year to reimburse as many as 75,000 eligible beneficiaries and spouses for part of their 2006 Medicare Part B monthly premiums.

“The creation of this new benefit,’’ said USW President Leo W. Gerard, “is further proof that the union has never given up the fight for the rights of our retirees, despite the fact that they’ve been abandoned by their former employers and given cruel short shrift by the bankruptcy courts.”

The fund will reimburse retirees and surviving spouses for part of the Medicare Part B monthly premiums paid during the first six months of this year. Premiums are typically $88.50 a month for Medicare beneficiaries.

The actual amount of the reimbursement will depend upon the number of VEBA beneficiaries and spouses who apply for the benefit. However, the minimum reimbursement payment will be $40 per month, or $240 for any eligible individual who paid Medicare Part B premiums for all of the first six months of 2006.

The cash payments will be distributed to eligible applicants in December, 2006.  Thomas Duzak, Director of Pension and Benefits for the USW, said the new one-time benefit will be paid for from a surplus in the fund resulting from favorable steel industry conditions.

Duzak also encouraged those eligible retirees who have not yet signed up to seriously consider enrolling in the Prescription Drug Program established for VEBA beneficiaries in March 2005. The monthly cost is only $10 per person, and the benefits are, on average, equal to or better than the standard benefits under Medicare.  Retirees who are not already enrolled for prescription drug coverage are urged to contact the VEBA at (877) 474-8322.

The VEBA trust was established in 2002 through negotiations between the United Steelworkers and International Steel Group (ISG), which has since been acquired by Mittal Steel USA.