§ 722.129 - Insurance, self insurance.

(a) A State workmen's compensation law may, in appropriate circumstances, be excluded from the Secretary's list if such law permits coal mine operators or employers to obtain commercial contracts of insurance to guarantee the payment of pneumoconiosis benefits and such State law does not require (1) that such commercial insurer be authorized under the laws of the State to insure workmen's compensation, and (2) that each such commercial contract of insurance contain a provision that insolvency or bankruptcy of the insured or discharge therein (or both) shall not relieve the insurance carrier from liability for all current and future payments of benefits due an entitled individual.

(b) A State workmen's compensation law may, in the discretion of the Secretary, be excluded from the Secretary's list if it is apparent that self-insurance arrangements permitted under such State law in general are not sufficient to insure the uninterrupted payment of benefits to an entitled individual.

(c) Contribution or apportionment of liability among insurers and/or self-insurers, if so provided for by a State workmen's compensation law, shall not be a basis for exclusion of such law from the Secretary's list.

(d) This section shall not be construed to require that a State workmen's compensation law guarantee the payment of pneumoconiosis benefits by means of commercial insurance or self-insurance programs.