Nearly two years after President Barack Obama signed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act into law, about 40,000 responders and survivors receive monitoring and 20,000 get treatment for illnesses as part of the World Trade Center Health Program — one of the law’s two components. But the other, Birnbaum’s fund compensating the same kind of people for economic losses, hasn’t been as quick to get off the ground.
It’s not a matter of bureaucratic foot-dragging, but rather an illustration of the complexities of key legislation born of the attacks that took place 11 years ago next week.
“This is a lot more complicated than meets the eye,” said Birnbaum, an attorney.
With time still left to submit claims, some people are holding out in the event that they become sick in the near future. Others are waiting until the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health officially adds 14 broad categories of cancer to the list of conditions covered by the fund.