Cleanup Workers

Federal Programs for 9/11 Cleanup Workers

By the tenth anniversary of 9/11, it had become clear that cleanup workers, first responders, and others had suffered toxic exposures at 9/11 sites that likely caused severe illness. The federal government recognized that it was responsible for assisting those individuals and the families of those who had died from 9/11-related ailments.

Congress passed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act to address that need. The act created two landmark federal programs that today provide benefits to thousands of cleanup workers suffering from the devastating long-term effects of toxic exposure.

The World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP)

To ensure that cleanup workers who suffered toxic exposures received adequate medical care, the Zadroga Act created the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), which replaced two earlier programs that had offered medical assistance to a more limited group of 9/11 victims.

The WTCHP centralized the federal efforts to ensure that all individuals afflicted with 9/11-related health conditions would receive free medical monitoring and treatment for their ailments.

Today, the WTCHP offers monitoring and treatment to tens of thousands of individuals who suffer from 9/11-related illnesses, including former cleanup workers. Participants in the program, referred to as program members, receive services at medical facilities called Clinical Centers of Excellence throughout the New York City area and from WTCHP-affiliated providers nationwide.

When the WTCHP began operating in 2011, it immediately began providing services to 56,000 individuals who had already been participating in predecessor programs.

By June of 2017, nearly 80,000 individuals (including cleanup workers) had become program members, and today the tally has reached well over 100,000 participants. The steady growth in WTCHP members reflects both increased awareness in the 9/11 community about the services the Program provides and the steady rate of new diagnoses of 9/11-related health conditions in individuals who suffered toxic exposures, especially among 9/11 cleanup workers.

The WTCHP is overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and administered by the CDC and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). In addition to providing medical treatment and monitoring to Program members, it also maintains the official list of health conditions linked to 9/11 toxic exposures and provides certification of 9/11-related illnesses for the purpose of establishing its members’ eligibility for financial benefits through the VCF.

Eligibility for Cleanup Workers Seeking Medical Treatment and Monitoring Benefits

To obtain medical treatment and monitoring from the WTCHP, individuals must meet several eligibility criteria.

For example, cleanup workers applying for WTCHP benefits as general responders at Ground Zero must:

• Have worked at least four hours in Lower Manhattan, at the Staten Island Landfill, or at certain barge loading piers used for transporting Ground Zero debris to a landfill, between September 11, 2001, and September 14, 2001; at least 24 hours between September 11, 2001, and September 30, 2001; or at least 80 hours between September 11, 2001, and July 31, 2002. (Similar hour and date requirements apply for cleanup workers at the Pentagon and Shanksville.)
• Be diagnosed with a condition included on the CDC’s list of covered 9/11-related health conditions. These conditions have been linked to toxic exposure and include many respiratory and digestive disorders and dozens of types of cancer.
• Agree to obtain their medical treatment, prescription medication, and monitoring services from a Clinical Center of Excellence in the New York area or from a provider affiliated with the WTCHP’s Nationwide Provider Network.

The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF)

The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF)

Cleanup workers who suffer from 9/11-related medical conditions don’t just need medical services. They also deserve financial assistance to compensate them for the pain and suffering and financial losses such as lost wages they have endured because of their exposure to 9/11 toxins. That is where the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund comes in.

Congress originally created the VCF in 2001, within weeks of the attack, to provide financial compensation to families of deceased 9/11 victims and to individuals who had suffered acute trauma or illness during the attacks or initial cleanup efforts. But that initial version of the VCF only ran until 2004 and did not apply to individuals who would later suffer from 9/11-related health problems that only began to emerge later.

The Zadroga Act authorized the reopening of the VCF for five years, beginning in 2011, and expanded eligibility for financial benefits to include individuals who suffered from the growing number of 9/11-related health conditions. Congress reauthorized the VCF for another five years in 2015.

In 2019—a year before the Program was due to expire once again—a Special Master appointed by the Department of Justice warned that the VCF lacked sufficient funds to fully compensate all pending and projected claims. Within months, Congress approved, and the president signed into law the Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. This guaranteed adequate funding for the VCF for all claims filed through October 1, 2090.

Today, anyone with a valid VCF compensation claim, including any cleanup worker suffering from a recognized 9/11-related health condition, can rest assured that the VCF has enough money to pay them full benefits.

The VCF pays compensation for both wage losses and other monetary expenses associated with 9/11-related illnesses, as well as for pain and suffering endured by cleanup workers and others afflicted with those diseases. The VCF pays up to $250,000 in pain and suffering damages to individuals who suffer from cancer and up to $90,000 to individuals afflicted with non-cancer conditions.

Registration Required

In order to file a VCF claim, claimants must first register with the Program.

Registration must take place within two years of:

• The claimant receiving a certification or diagnosis of a 9/11-related illness.
• The date of death in a wrongful death claim or the date on which a doctor determined that the death was the result of a 9/11-related illness.

This registration deadline is extremely important as it reserves the claimant’s right to file a claim at any point before October 2090. It should be noted that individuals do not have to be ill with a 9/11-related illness to register with the Program. Cleanup workers who spent time in the New York City exposure zone in the months that followed the terror attack can register in order to protect their right to file a claim in the future if a 9/11-related illness does appear