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A federal agency seeking to treat emergency responders who fell ill after 9/11 is contending with staffing shortages and delays that could have “devastating medical consequences” as the United States approaches the 25th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks.
That’s according to a group of New York and New Jersey members of Congress who sent a March 6 letter requesting a congressional hearing with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The letter from U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, whose district includes Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, and eight other Republican members of Congress from Greater New York says they want to meet with HHS and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials overseeing the World Trade Center Health Program. They are seeking to learn more about the “current operational challenges, the steps being taken to address them, and how Congress can continue to support these important efforts.”
They also say 9/11 responders and survivors have been denied admission to the health program and have been waiting for more than a year for their appeals to be heard.
Of particular concern are reports that the agency has fewer staff members than were initially authorized – at a time when it is seeing enrollment grow. Advocates and others blame the shortage on cuts to HHS brought on by Kennedy and the Department of Government Efficiency. The letter refers to a January report that found only 84 people, out of 120 positions authorized by the Office of Management and Budget, are employed at the program.
“These staffing shortfalls have coincided with widespread delays in treatment authorizations, backlogs in claims processing, disruptions in continuity of care, and reduced oversight of contractors,” the members of Congress wrote.
They also note that program staff members working as Public Health Service Officers have been reassigned temporarily to different departments to work on immigration enforcement and at the Indian Health Service, an HHS agency that provides support to members of federally recognized Native American tribes.
“These reassignments further exacerbate the program staff shortage and harmful wait times for patients,” the letter said. “Responders and survivors suffering from cancers and other life-threatening 9/11-related conditions have reported waiting months for appointments or approvals. These delays can have devastating medical consequences.”
Fifteen years ago, Congress passed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010, which created the World Trade Center Health Program in 2011 to provide health care to what has become more than 140,000 responders and survivors nationwide who have fallen ill because of their exposure to the toxic 9/11 attack sites in Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Data collected by the World Trade Center Health Program logs almost 53,000 responders and survivors who were diagnosed with some form of cancer, the most common ailment. Others were found to have a persistent nasal inflammation, heartburn, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“If you have to wait six months to get an appointment and get your cancer certified, that can make the difference between life and death,” said Michael Barasch, an attorney who has been a vocal advocate for responders and others harmed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, including Zadroga, a New York Police Department detective who died from a respiratory illness that was attributed to exposure to toxins in Lower Manhattan. “People are going to die because this health program is understaffing.”
Spokespeople for HHS and the World Trade Center Health Program haven’t responded to requests for comment.
Trenton Daniel is a reporter covering public health in New York for Healthbeat. Contact Trenton at tdaniel@healthbeat.org or on the messaging app Signal at trentondaniel.88.
