Latest news with #theJamesZadrogaAct
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
9/11 health workers rehired after outcry forced Trump to reverse cuts
Federal workers who help run the health program for Sept. 11 first responders and survivors have been rehired after a bipartisan outcry forced the Trump administration to reverse deep cuts that threatened to hobble the program, lawmakers said Wednesday. Almost all of the estimated 16 fired World Trade Center Health Program workers have been told this week they are being reinstated, following weeks of uncertainty over the draconian cuts by the White House and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. 'The flash firings at the World Trade Center Health Program should never happened in the first place,' Sen. Chuck Schumer told the News. 'Once we raised hell, the administration had no choice but to start fixing this mess.' Schumer accused President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of putting 'sick 9/11 survivors through a lot of pain with these gratuitous firings.' 'The Trump administration has much work to gain even a modicum of trust at the WTCHP,' Schumer added. Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-New York) also hailed the rehirings, which he said came after both Democratic and Republican lawmakers pushed the administration to take action. The reversal of the cuts appeared to be confirmed by program director Dr. James Howard, who praised HHS in a statement for 'swift action to address these notices and return critical program staff to work to help assist and provide ongoing services.' 9/11 advocates questioned whether the reinstatements will be permanent and insisted Howard's status remains murky. Howard could not be reached for comment and HHS didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. 'This is good news … but there are still major questions about the status of the program,' warned Ben Chevat of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act. The 9/11 advocacy group plans to hold a forum in Washington, D.C. next week to demand more answers ahead of RFK Jr.'s planned appearance before a Senate committee. The action appears for now to end the chaotic budget cuts imposed on the program by the Trump administration. Howard and several staffers were fired in March as part of a wide effort spearheaded by Musk's DOGE to downsize the federal government. After a flurry of bipartisan outcry, the White House said at the time that it was reversing the staffing cuts and reinstating Howard. But it didn't actually take action until last week, when a front page Daily News scoop revealed that Howard's status had been left in limbo, new participants were not being enrolled in the program and treatment plans were not being approved. Three FDNY employees were unable to get treatment plans approved for recent cancer diagnoses. After the fresh round of criticism, the health program resumed enrollments and treatment approvals. Howard was fully reinstated to his post. Now, the workers, amounting to nearly 20% of the program's staff, have been told they will not be fired after all. The program provides health services to about 137,000 first responders and survivors who suffered injuries and illnesses caused by the toxins that swirled around Ground Zero during 9/11 and the weeks that followed. About 83,000 have at least one certified 9/11 illness from their exposure during and after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center, as well as the hijacked plane crashes near Shanksville, Pa., and at the Pentagon.
02-05-2025
- Health
9/11 health care program restores cancer treatment certifications amid weeks of uncertainty
The World Trade Center Health Program is once again certifying illnesses linked to the 9/11 terrorist attacks after a chaotic few weeks that left some cancer patients, including first responders, without access to treatment. Certification is the process by which the federal program confirms that a 9/11-related illnesses qualify for treatment or compensation. Dr. John Howard, the program's administrator, is the only official authorized to approve these certifications, and his status was in question for weeks. Howard was laid off in February and allegedly reinstated following public backlash; however, there were signs that he was not fully and formally reinstated, including a freeze on certifications requiring his signature as late as Thursday morning. In an internal memo obtained by ABC News, a federal branch chief with the Health and Human Services Department wrote, "We are able to resume processing enrollments, certifications, and letters at this time." Dr. David Prezant, the New York City Fire Department's chief medical officer and director of its World Trade Center Health Program, confirmed to ABC News that he received the memo, and he was once again able to treat new patients. The notice signals a turning point after what Prezant had said were weeks of silence, confusion and life-threatening delays. It also followed a federal order laying off 20% of its staff in April — just months after it fired, then reinstated, a spate of staff members, including Howard. Rep. Andrew Garbarino, a Republican who represents New York and is a longtime congressional watchdog for the program, welcomed the news and vowed to ensure that Howard remains fully reinstated. "Any questions about Dr. Howard's authorities as Administrator have been resolved — as confirmed directly with Dr. Howard himself," Garbarino wrote to ABC News in a statement. "Now, enrollments and certifications that were left in limbo must be addressed immediately." "Let me be clear: anything that jeopardizes care for 9/11 responders and survivors is indefensible," the statement added. Ben Chevat, executive director of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, credited media coverage and bipartisan pressure for forcing the reversal. "I'm glad that the 9/11 responders who need cancer care are going to get their cancer care — but they should never have been delayed," he said. The restoration of certification means the program can now review and approve claims from responders and survivors who have developed new conditions linked to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Certification is a key step that allows patients to begin treatment or file for compensation. Without it, clinics were forced to postpone care for some of the sickest patients. "The World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program's Clinical Centers of Excellence and Nationwide Provider Network are continuing to provide services to Program members at this time," a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. "The Program is accepting, reviewing, and processing new enrollment applications and certification requests." 'It's good that certifications have resumed, but we've seen how quickly things can unravel,' Chevat said. 'We still need full transparency and accountability to make sure this doesn't happen again.' For now, clinics have been told they will see newly processed certifications by May 5 at the latest. The program's staff and its supporters say they're relieved — but remain wary about the future.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Trump, Kennedy job cuts gut World Trade Center health program, paralyze care
NEW YORK — The Trump administration has gutted the agency overseeing the World Trade Center Health Program, a move advocates say will wreak havoc on the program's operations and bring critical operations to a standstill. Tens of thousands of responders and survivors rely on the WTC Health Program to get treatment and medication and monitor injuries and illnesses caused by the toxins that swirled around ground zero during the 9/11 attacks and the weeks that followed. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. has launched the gutting process of laying off around two-thirds of the staff at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, a federal health agency. The World Trade Center Health Program is housed under NIOSH, which in turn is part of the Centers for Disease Control. Around 873 positions are to be culled — including that of Dr. John Howard, the head of NIOSH and the administrator of the 9/11 first responders health treatment and monitoring program. No other WTC Health Program employees have been fired, but the program relies on doctors, epidemiologists and administrative staffers who work for the broader agency, so the NIOSH firings pose a threat, survivor advocates claim. Key tasks such as evaluating new applications to the program are done by NIOSH doctors. 'These cuts to NIOSH will be devastating to the World Trade Center Health Program and must be stopped. The first step must be restoring Dr. Howard as NIOSH Director immediately,' Benjamin Chevat, executive director of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, said in a statement, calling the move 'another example of chainsaw incompetence.' John Feal, a longtime 9/11 survivor advocate who led a team to Washington, D.C., to urge passage of the James Zadroga Act — which created the WTC Health Program — called the cutting of NIOSH and Dr. Howard's firing 'the most reckless, careless, unconscionable, disgusting and vile act against those in the 9/11 community that has been committed since Sept. 11, 2001.' 'Welcome to being part of the atrocity because you have bellied up to the bar for a drink with those who caused that fateful day,' said Feal. 'You have damaged thousands of people in an instant with your actions today, you have caused irreparable PTSD with your actions today and you have torn thousands of families apart with your actions today. 'You have spit in the faces of the 9/11 community for the last time,' he said. It's now unclear how the program will be run and who, if not NIOSH staffers, will handle contracts, communications, HR, grants and other essential operations This all comes despite the fact that drastic cuts to the 9/11 program were reversed earlier this year after Republican lawmakers sounded the alarm. The rare reversal from Trump in February saw him restore two research grants and the jobs of 16 employees. 'After cutting this program's staff directly a few weeks ago and having to rescind those cuts under pressure we would have thought that the Trump administration or the new HHS Secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr. would have learned their lesson and would have thought before cutting, but that, sadly, was not the case,' Chevat said. The program was also threatened under the last Trump administration. In 2018, the White House proposed reshuffling the agency to put it under the purview of just the CDC. It's estimated that over 400,000 people were affected by the toxins swirling over ground zero. More than 127,000 people have been enrolled in the WTC Health Program. Out of that number more than 81,000 have a certified 9/11 illness from their exposure during and after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center, as well as the hijacked plane crashes in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon, according to the program's website. ______
