\Thousands of sick 9/11 responders learned Friday that the $2.8 billion fund established to compensate them has made final rulings on 112 claims after two years of work.
“I’m disappointed,” said John Feal, a construction supervisor severely injured on “The Pile,” who lobbied Congress for the 2011 law setting up the Victims Compensation Fund.
It’s moving at a snail’s pace, and we’re talking about human life.”
Nearly 55,000 people registered for the compensation fund by Oct. 3, 2013’s deadline for noncancer illnesses, according to the fund’s annual report issued Friday.
Advocates project that only about half have covered ailments and will qualify.
More than 11,000 registrants have submitted eligibility forms, and the fund has made decisions on about 2,500 of them, deeming 871 claimants eligible.
Awards totalling $27.2 million have been pledged to the 112 claimants who got final decisions.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan, Queens), Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn) and Peter King (R-L.I.) issued statements that they were deeply disappointed by the program’s pace.