Health program for 9/11 illnesses faces uncertain future after federal staffing cuts 

After more than 23 years have passed since the collapse of the twin towers, which led to the bottom of Manhattan in toxic dust and debris, the number of people diagnosed with 9/11 diseases is still growing.

Since 2011, the main supplier of people exposed to fumes has been the World Trade Center health program, which covers treatment for cancer, asthma and post -shock disorder, among other health conditions.

Of the about 132,000 people Join the program As of December, at least 64 % has a 2/11. Cancer is the most common, and affects more than 40,000 members. Some people join the program after the development of a disease, while others join to receive annual offers that can discover diseases in the future.

The fate of the program has been restored over the past ten weeks, as the Trump administration has launched some employees and their decline, only to end them again last month, according to lawyers and preachers of people with 11/11 exposure. They added that the employment discounts made it difficult to register members or confirm that their treatment is covered with federal financing.

“These discounts will delay treatment, delay the diagnosis and early discovery of their cancers, and will cost them life,” said Todd Clelei, a nurse medical specialist at Parace & McGrey, a lawyer who represents the respondents and survivors of the nurses.

He added: “The health program was already working on the sidelines of very slim employment.” “We just started seeing what these negative effects will be.”

Sixteen program employees were passed in the Trump administration Launching workers under observation In February. The administration returned the positions about a week after its protest Republicans and Democrats In Congress.

Then in late March, the Ministry of Health and Humanitarian Services announced that it would exclude about 20,000 federal employees. This layoff again included 16 employees of the World Health Center for Trade Center, in addition to the program manager, according to lawyers and preachers. The director was returned on April 5 after More party oppositionThey said, but the employees were not.

HHS demobilization operations were part of a huge restructuring of the agency responsible for the World Trade Center program, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). In addition to the 16 employees, HHS ended the other institute employees responsible for ratifying that diseases related to the 9/11 patients were eligible to obtain federal financing, the lawyers and preachers said.

“They were not in the salary list in the World Trade Center Center program, but they did necessary things for the program,” said Benjamin Chefat, Executive Director of the Health Group on September 11, a non -profit group that helps to access the program services.

Lawyers and preachers are planning to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday to demand legislators to return employees. HHS did not respond to the comment request.

New York City mayor Eric Adams said his office had communicated with the federal government “about restoring these important resources.”

“New York City is devoted to providing high -quality health care for the heroes who responded on September 11 and the survivors of the most tragic day in the history of America,” Adams said in a statement. “Our partnership with the federal government to provide these services is vital, as it provides access to life rescue treatment, sensitive time for every firefighter, police officer, volunteers, and the daily New York residents who remember that day, and remember what it took to rebuild the next morning.”

Before employment discounts, respondents can apply on September 11 and people who lived, worked, or joined school or daytime care in the disaster area to join the program and are usually accepted within a few weeks. But Chefat said no one has been recorded since April 1. Program About 200 people are usually recordedOn average.

Michael Parash, a partner at Parash & McGari, said that he is still submitting requests on behalf of his agents, but “they do not hear from the health program, so we do not know whether they will get an appointment or when they will get a date.”

The program members receive annual offers in approved health clinics, which are largely concentrated in the New York region. There, doctors evaluate people for A group of mental and physical diseases With well -known relationships to 9/11. If the doctor decides to have a link, the clinic provides papers to federal employees, who should testify that the condition is qualified to finance before patients are treated without any cost. More than 8,200 cancer diagnoses were adopted last year.

Chefat said that no new certificates have been issued since the beginning of April, shortly after the HHS announcement that it is Niosh’s dismantling.

Lawyers and preachers said that the delay could have severe consequences for people who were exposed to toxic dust and wreckage. Many types of cancer must be treated – as soon as they are determined – immediately.

“You will never hear me to say something inflammatory just because there is a title, but it is a fact: people will die because of these decisions,” Parash said.

The collapse of the twin constellations has released the chemicals that cause cancer such as asbestos, gasoline and dioxins that remained in the air for several days to weeks. A 10 years study I found a high risk of leukemia, prostate cancer and thyroid gland between rescue and recovery workers who responded to the disaster. Other cancers, such as lung cancer and medium epithelial tumor, It may develop after decades of exposure to asbestosTherefore, future diagnoses are expected.

“We were breathing in the glass, asbestos and everything else you could imagine,” said Michael Ocunel, who helped search and rescue as a firefighter early after September 11. “We slept in it, we ate in it, we bleed in it. We did not leave it. We were in that area for about nine months.”

Almost six years later, Ocunile was diagnosed with a rare inflammatory disease called sarcoid, which caused pain in its joints and skin. He received treatment through the World Trade Center Health Program, which enhances it to help manage its symptoms. He said that the idea that new members may not be able to register or receive treatment “very annoying”.

Lawyers and lawyers said, if NIOSH employees are not returned, hospitals may not be compensated for chemotherapy or surgeries, and in the end they may stop providing them with patients. Parash said he had already received calls from clients who are concerned about whether they could continue to obtain chemotherapy.

“It is the bureaucratic cruelty,” he said. “They are trying to save money, which is good, but don’t do it on the back of September 11 community.”

Marima James, a lower Manhattan resident who was pregnant with her third child during September 11, said she was waiting to find out if the program will cover a treatment for breathing during sleep. She now expects this process to be delayed.

“How will they get a new drug if doctors are released from Niosh?” James said. “I will wait forever for this medicine.”

Parsh added that the World World Trade Center program was already vulnerable before workers’ layoffs due to budget restrictions. In December, Congress chose not to include a long -term financing package for the program in a two -party spending. Many legislators expect that budget deficiency can compel the program on Close the enrollment or rear therapy For existing members, starting in October 2028, a draft law of the two parties It was presented to the Senate in February It calls for more funding until the program ends in 2090.

In addition to pressing the program employees to be reset, lawyers and advocates will request the draft law on Tuesday.