More than 23 years after the Twin Towers collapsed, covering down manhattan in toxic dust and debris, the number of people diagnosed with diseases related to 9/11 is still growing.
Since 2011, the main resource for people exposed to fumes has been the World Trade Center health program, which covers the treatment of cancer, asthma and post -traumatic stress disorder, among other health conditions.
Of the approximately 132,000 people registered in the program as of December, 64% have at least one condition linked to September 11. Cancer is the most common, which affects more than 40,000 members. Some people join the program after a disease has developed, while others join to receive annual exams that could detect diseases in the future.
The destination of the program has been seen in the last 10 weeks when the Trump administration fired and again hired certain employees, just to finish them again last month, according to lawyers and defenders of people with exhibitions related to 9/11. They added that personnel cuts have made it difficult to register members or confirm that their treatment is covered by federal funds.
“These cuts will delay treatment, delay the diagnosis and early detection of their cancers, and it will cost lives,” said Todd Cleckley, a nursing specialist at Barasch & McGarry, a law firm that represents the responders and survivors of September 11 and the survivors.
“The health program was already working with a very thin margin,” he added. “We are only beginning to see what those negative impacts will be.”
Sixteen of the program employees were swept in the dismissal of Trump administration workers in February. The administration restored the positions approximately one week later, after the protest of Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
Then, at the end of March, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it was dismissing around 20,000 federal employees. These layoffs again included 16 employees in the World Trade Center health program, plus the program director, according to lawyers and defenders. The director was reinstated on April 5 after a more bipartisan opposition, they said, but employees did not.
The dismissals of the HHS were part of a massive restructuring that destroyed the agency responsible for the World Trade Center program, the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH). In addition to the 16 employees, the HHS rescinded other employees of the Institute in charge of certifying that the diseases related to the 9/11 of the patients were eligible for federal funds, lawyers and defenders said.
“They were not on the payroll of the World Trade Center program, but they did things that are essential for the program in operation,” said Benjamin Chevat, executive director of 9/11 Health Watch, a non -profit group that helps ensure that people have access to program services.
Lawyers and defenders plan to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday to ask legislators to restore employees. The HHS did not respond to a request for comments.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said his office has communicated with the federal government “on the restoration of these important resources.”
“New York City is dedicated to providing quality medical care to the heroes who responded on September 11 and the survivors of the most tragic day in the history of the United States,” Adams said in a statement. “Our association with the federal government to provide these services is vital, providing access to a life -sensitive treatment for each firefighter, police officer, volunteer and New Yorkers who remember that day, and remember what was needed to rebuild the next morning.”
Before the staff cuts, September 11 responders and the people who lived, worked or attended the school or nursery in the disaster area could request to join the program and generally be accepted in a few weeks. But Chevat said no one has registered since April 1. The program generally enrolls around 200 people per month, on average.
Michael Barasch, a partner of Barasch & Mcgarry, said he is still submitting applications on behalf of his clients, but “they do not listen to the health program, so we do not know if they will ever receive an appointment.”
Program members receive annual exams in Certified Health Clinics, which are largely concentrated in the New York area. There, doctors evaluate people for a large number of mental and physical illnesses with known ties with September 11. If a doctor determines that there is a link, the clinic presents documents to federal employees, who must certify that the condition is eligible for funds before patients can be treated at no cost. Last year more than 8,200 cancer diagnoses were certified.
No new certifications have been issued since the beginning of April, shortly after HHS announced that he was dismantling Niosh, Chevat said.
The delays could have serious consequences for people who were exposed to toxic dust and debris, lawyers and defenders said. Many cancers, once identified, must be discussed immediately.
“You will never hear me something inflammatory just to make a holder, but it’s a fact: people will die due to these decisions,” said Barasch.
The collapse of the twin towers released chemicals that cause cancer such as asbestos, benzene and dioxins that remained in the air for days or weeks. A 10 -year study found a high risk of leukemia and prostate and thyroid cancers among rescue and recovery workers who responded to disaster. Other cancers, such as lung cancer and mesotelioma, can develop decades after asbestos exposure, so future diagnoses are expected.
“We were breathing in glass and asbestos and everything that can be imagined,” said Michael O’Connell, who helped with search and rescue operations as an early race firefighter after September 11. “We slept in it, we ate in it, we bleed in it. We didn’t leave it. We were in that area for almost nine months.”
Approximately six years later, O’Connell was diagnosed with a rare inflammatory disease called sarcoidosis that caused weakening pain in joints and skin. He received treatment through the World Trade Center Health program, which gives him credit to help him handle his symptoms. The idea that new members may not be able to register or receive treatment is “deeply disturbing,” he said.
If NIOSH employees are not reinstated, lawyers and defenders said, hospitals may not receive reimbursements for chemotherapy or surgeries and, finally, they can stop offering them to patients. Barasch said he already received calls from customers worried about whether they can continue to obtain chemotherapy.
“” It’s a bureaucratic cruelty, “he said.” They are trying to save money, which is fine, but do not do it behind the September 11 community. ”
Mariama James, a bass resident Manhattan who was pregnant with his third son during September 11, said he has been waiting to see if the program will cover a treatment for his sleep apnea. Now he expects that process to be delayed.
“How are they going to cover a new medicine if NIOSH doctors have been fired?” James said. “I will be waiting for that medication.”
The World Trade Center health program was already vulnerable before layoffs due to budgetary limitations, Barasch added. In December, Congress chose not to include a long -term financing package for the program in a bipartisan spending agreement. Several legislators anticipate that the budget deficit could force the program to close the registration or climb the backward treatment for current members from October 2028. A bipartisan bill presented in the Senate in February requires that more funds are made available until the Expirre program in 2090.
In addition to the lobbying for program employees to be rebuilt, lawyers and defenders will ask legislators on Tuesday to support the bill.
