Victim Compensation Fund

The funds that Congress set aside for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund are finite, and the number of claimants increases every day. To ensure fairness and stretch the funds as far as possible, the VCF has adopted the policy that certain collateral benefits should offset the amount of benefits a claimant receives from the […]

*** UPDATE: Since the date of this blog post, the deadline for filing a claim with the Victim Compensation Fund has been extended until December 18, 2020. *** As of January 2011, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 reopened the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which had closed in June 2004. […]

In the moments, days, weeks and months following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) in 2001, clouds of dust enveloped Lower Manhattan. As the debris was cleared from the site, that same dust found its way to the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island. Thousands of first responders inhaled this dust, […]

Every quarter, the Centers for Disease Control publishes a report that gives a picture of the activities of the World Trade Center Health Program. The program was created as part of the Zadroga Act to provide free health monitoring and treatment for responders and survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Those eligible to enroll include […]

As the years have gone by since the 9/11 disaster, studies have repeatedly demonstrated an increased rate of many cancers among emergency responders and other survivors who had breathed the toxic dust at Ground Zero. Except one. Somewhat surprisingly, statistics show 9/11 responders have experienced a lower rate of lung cancer than would be expected […]

It is simply human nature, indicated the director of a Washington-based victim-support organization, for people to put off taking action until a deadline looms. Just look at the tax-filing ordeal many put themselves through every April. So it was no wonder, she concluded, that until the compensation fund deadline was imminent, the response was lower […]