Cite as: 524 U. S. 498 (1998)
Breyer, J., dissenting
"[retiree] medical benefits." Ante, at 535. The relevant history, outlined below, shows that industry action (including action by Eastern), combined with Federal Government action and the miners' own forbearance, produced circumstances that made it natural for the miners to believe that either industry or Government (or both) would make every effort to see that they received health benefits after they retired—regardless of what terms were explicitly included in previously signed bargaining agreements.
(1) Before the 1940's, health care for miners, insofar as it existed, was provided by "company doctors" in company towns. See, e. g., U. S. Dept. of Interior, Report of the Coal Mines Administration, A Medical Survey of the Bituminous-Coal Industry 121, 144 (1947) (hereinafter Boone Report); id., at 131, 191, 193 (describing care as substandard and criticizing the "noticeable deficiency" in the number of doctors); Secretary of Labor's Advisory Commission on United Mine Workers of America Retiree Health Benefits, Coal Commission Report 19 (1990) (hereinafter Coal Comm'n Report), App. in No. 96-1947 (CA1), p. 1350 (hereinafter App. (CA1)). By the late 1940's, health care and pension rights had become the issue for miners, a central demand in collective bargaining, and a rallying cry for those who urged a nationwide coal strike. M. Fox, United We Stand 404, 416 (1990); I. Krajcinovic, From Company Doctors to Managed Care 17, 43 (1997) (hereinafter Krajcinovic); C. Seltzer, Fire in the Hole 57 (1985); R. Zieger, John L. Lewis: Labor Leader 151 (1988); see also ante, at 504-505. John L. Lewis, head of the United Mine Workers of America (hereinafter UMWA or Union), urged the mine owners to " 'remove that fear' " of sudden death from " 'their minds so that they will know if that occurs . . . their families will be provided with proper insurance.' " Zieger, supra, at 153. In 1946, the workers struck. The Government seized the mines. And the Government, together with the Union, effectively imposed a managed health care agreement on the coal operators. Seltzer, supra, at 58.
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