Parker Waichman Condemns Presidential Budget Plan Threats to Health Care Benefits of 9/11 Responders and Victims

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Feb 20, 2018, 03:08 ET

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y., Feb. 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Parker Waichman denounces President Trump's 2019 budget proposal which hides a plan to seriously undercut health care monitoring and treatment for the nearly 83,000 9/11 responders and victims. It's in the fine print of the President's budget where a scheme lies to reorganize the federal agency which oversees care given to those registered with the World Trade Center Health Care Program.

World Trade Center Health Care Program

The World Trade Center Health Care Program (WTCHP) is currently overseen by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). NIOSH is currently under the umbrella of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). But in the President's 2019 budget proposal, NIOSH is to be removed from the supervision of the CDC and transferred to the control of the National Institute of Health (NIH). However, the WTCHP won't follow NIOSH to the NIH. Instead, it will remain behind, under the management of the CDC. While this doesn't seem like much of a problem for 9/11 responders and victims, it is. That's because NIOSH and the WTCHP share a significant number of staff, many of whom will move with NIOSH if it leaves the CDC as the President's 2019 budget proposal requires. Included among these is NIOSH's Director, Dr. John Howard. It was Dr. Howard who was instrumental in putting NIOSH at the forefront in responding to injuries caused by the toxins at Ground Zero. If the proposal passes, Dr. Howard's loss as Director as well as the loss of his staff's expertise will be devastating to the vitality of the WTCHP and invite proposed changes which could cause serious interference to those responders and victims receiving its benefits. In real, day-to-day terms, such a change could seriously impact the large number of first responders and survivors who rely upon the WTCHP for treatment, medications and medical monitoring for illnesses and injuries attributed to their exposure to the toxins at Ground Zero and other 9/11 sites.

Several New York members of congress are demanding that the President's 2019 budget proposal be abandoned. "We are shocked and disturbed," says a letter addressed to Head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director, Mick Mulvaney, and signed by Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Peter King (R-LI). "This proposal directly contradicts the legislation Congress passed just three years ago to renew WTCHP for 75 years within NIOSH. This will unnecessarily put at risk the health of those who have been made ill by 9/11, many of whom are still suffering, and in too many cases dying, from their injuries 17 years later."

How Can You Help?

You can take action by letting OMB Director Mick Mulvaney know that you want him to withdraw this proposal, which condemns ill and injured 9/11 responders and victims to an uncertain future. You can leave a comment for Mick Mulvaney at the Office of Management and Budget at 202-395-3080, option 1, or visit http://911health.bluestatedigital.com/page/speakout/don-t-move-niosh-into-nih?js=false to demand that this proposal be immediately withdrawn.

Parker Waichman LLP is committed to representing first responders and victims of 9/11 who rely upon the World Trade Center Health Care Program for medical monitoring and treatment of conditions related to the tragic events of 9/11.

For more information, you can visit their website or call 1-800-LAW-INFO (1-800-529-4636). (For more information, please visit https://www.yourlawyer.com/911-zadroga-act/).

SOURCE Parker Waichman LLP