Health funds for Sept. 11 victims are running dry

NEW YORK — Fourteen years after the 9/11 attacks, a new round of uncertainty looms for people exposed to the million tons of toxic dust that fell on New York when hijacked jets toppled the World Trade Center.

Two federal programs that promised billions of dollars in compensation and medical care to sick 9/11 responders and survivors are set to expire next year, five years after they were created by Congress.

As Friday’s anniversary of the terror attacks approached, advocates for responders renewed their push for an extension. Bills in the House and Senate would keep the health program going indefinitely while making billions of additional dollars available for compensation for people who fall ill.

But the debate over an extension is taking place in a fog of ambiguity. Many 9/11 responders, like Charles Diaz, are trying to figure out whether some or all of their care might be covered by private, public or union health insurance plans when the programs end.

Diaz, a retired Sanitation Department police captain, suffered a broken arm when the twin towers fell and was later diagnosed with a cancer that he blames on exposure to dust. Today, he relies on the World Trade Center Health Program to pay for the anti-leukemia drug Sprycel, which has a list price of $10,300 per month.

Who will pay for the drug if the program goes away?

“I have no idea,” Diaz said.

Almost 21,600 people received treatment through the World Trade Center Health Program over the past year, according to federal data, but officials haven’t been able to say how many patients might lose access to doctors or medication if the program shuts down as planned next September.

Most health plans for active or retired city workers do cover cancer care, but some patients can still get socked with thousands of dollars in co-payments, depending on factors including availability of worker’s compensation, the strength of their union’s pharmacy plan and whether they live close enough to New York to be treated by an in-network doctor.

“It’s a very complex world of cost, and a lot of our members just don’t want to go there,” said Dr. John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which oversees the World Trade Center health program.

Congress initially capped spending on both the health and compensation programs and designed them to close within five years, because of concerns about the cost of caring for so many people, including many with common illnesses that might be unrelated to 9/11.

It’s not clear how much it would cost to keep the program going, although the safety and health institute has offered one speculative estimate of an additional $1.83 billion to $2.22 billion over the next five years.

Since its creation in 2011, the health program has paid out about $411 million in medical and pharmacy bills, according to federal data. But that figure represents only part of the program’s spending.

In its earlier years, the program spent $1.35 on administration and research for every $1 it spent treating and monitoring responders.

Thousands of people who have applied for a payment from the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, a separate program, are facing a strong likelihood there won’t be enough money to pay their awards in full.

As of Sept. 6, the fund had awarded $1.44 billion to 6,285 people who developed health problems possibly related to the time they spent at the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon or the Flight 93 crash site in Pennsylvania.

But with at least an additional 11,000 applications still to be fully processed, the fund’s overseer, Sheila Birnbaum, says she believes it will exhaust its entire $2.78 billion appropriation before every claim is fully paid.

Unless Congress appropriates more money, beneficiaries will be paid only a percentage of what they are owed when checks are issued in 2017. Birnbaum said she is still not sure how big the shortfall will be.

Michael Chilton, a former Verizon engineer from Freehold, New Jersey, who retired five years ago after having a chunk of his throat removed during a bout with cancer, said he has already burned through half his retirement savings.

The 55-year-old said he been counting on a payment from the fund to make up for the additional years he would have spent working if he hadn’t gotten sick.

“If they stop this fund, I’m going to be in trouble,” he said.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.