Funds for 9/11 Victims Added to Build Back Better Proposal

The bipartisan “9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act” has been added to the Build Back Better infrastructure proposal now under consideration in Congress.

The $2.86 billion bill would fund the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program, providing free, comprehensive health care and economic security for 9/11 first responders and survivors and their families.

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, and Congressman Andrew Garbarino and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand are the lead sponsors.

A recent op-ed in the New York Daily News described the new funds as “an obligation Congress must meet.”

The bill features two key provisions to improve health care for the 9/11 community:

First, it would revise the WTC Health Program’s formula to provide adequate funds for health care for all 9/11-related illnesses until 2090.

Second, it would establish a research program to study the impact of the toxic exposures and psychological trauma on the 35,000 people who were children on 9/11 and were living or attending school or daycare in Lower Manhattan.

The health program provides medical treatment and monitoring for more than 100,000 responders and survivors from the World Trade Center and Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon, and the Shanksville, PA, crash site.

68 types of cancer are now covered, as well as many respiratory illnesses. The program also studies its data to determine additional illnesses that should be covered.

Barasch & McGarry has advocated for the federal government to fully fund both the health program and the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund (VCF).

If you were there in Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon, or Shanksville on or after 9/11, we urge you to register with the WTC Health Program and the VCF – even if you are currently healthy. 

By registering, you protect your right to access free health care and register a claim with the Victim Compensation Fund in the future.

For more information, call us at 212-385-8000 or visit 911victims.com.