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USW Retirees Reimbursed for Medicare Part B Premiums

For Immediate Release                                       November 30, 2006

Pittsburgh - Reimbursement checks for Medicare Part B premiums go in the mail next week to some 41,000 United Steelworker retirees and spouses who lost health care coverage in the bankruptcies of four steel companies.

The payments are being made by an innovative trust fund, the Mittal Steel USW Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA), set up to help retirees and spouses of the former Bethlehem, LTV, Acme Metals and Georgetown Steel companies.

The checks will reimburse the full amount of Medicare Part B premiums paid during the first six months of 2006. In most cases, the checks total $531 per individual or $1,062 per couple.

“This benefit reflects the USW’s continuing commitment to represent the interests of retirees who were abandoned by their former employers and betrayed by the bankruptcy courts,” USW President Leo W. Gerard said.

The checks will be mailed over several days next week, but it is anticipated that all checks should be delivered by Dec. 15.

Retirees who have questions a