Statement from 911 Health Watch on Special Master Birnbaum’s Update on Payments

March 3, 2016

“The update issued by Special Master Birnbaum, reporting that the VCF has authorized over 1,000 full payments as of February 29th  and that the VCF is on track with its plans to fully implement the reauthorization  is good news for injured and ill 9/11 responders, survivors and their families.

After all of the hard work by responders, survivors and their advocates for so many years to get Congress to do the right thing, it is a good to see that the VCF is on track.  We want to thank the Special Master and her team for their hard work.”

Below is the Special Master’s Message:

Message from Special Master Sheila Birnbaum – Update on Group A Payments

March 1, 2016

I am pleased to announce that as of the end of the day on February 29, the VCF has authorized full payments on over 1,000 Group A claims at a total authorized value of more than $233.4 million.

As I stated in my message on February 22, 2016, our team has been working long hours to implement our plan for processing Group A payments. We have shifted more staff to focus on payments and I am proud we exceeded our first interim target – – to authorize 1,000 full payments by the end of February.

Our expanded payment team is now fully trained and I expect to authorize a significantly greater number of payments in each successive month until all Group A payments have been made. We remain on track to meet the target dates published in our timeline. If you have a claim in Group A and you have not yet received a letter from the VCF with specific details about your payment, I appreciate your continued patience as we work to get each claim through the process.

Paying all Group A claims in full remains our first priority following the reauthorization of the VCF and I will continue to provide updates on our progress over the coming months.
As always, I encourage you to call the VCF Helpline at 1-855-885-1555 FREE with any questions you may have. For the hearing impaired, please call 1-855-885-1558 FREE (TDD). If you are calling from outside the United States, please call 1-202-514-1100.

Sheila

To see the Message from Special Master Sheila Birnbaum on the VCF website you can go here.