911 Health Watch Response to Today’s Message from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Special Master and Updated Statistics

January 15, 2015

For Immediate Release from 911 Health Watch

January 15th, 2015

ben.chevat@911healthwatch.org

911 Health Watch Response to Today’s Message from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Special Master and Updated Statistics

“Today, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Special Master Sheila Birnbaum released a message and updated statistics on its progress to date.

We are pleased to see that the Special Master and her staff are continuing to make improvements in procedures and are bringing to bear additional resources that are leading to an increasing number of compensation determinations. While we know that there are many injured Responders, Survivors and their families who have pending claims and are waiting for their determinations, the numbers that were released today continue to show that the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is making substantial progress in processing claims and making determinations for compensation.

We commend the Special Master and her staff for the work they have done to improve the process and for the continuing cooperative efforts they have made with the 9/11 Responder and Survivor community. We know that this progress will continue in the coming months.”

Here are some of the statistics that the Special Master reported on:

  • The report states that as of January 2nd, 2015, of those who registered with the VCF, 18,148 have submitted eligibility forms. According to Ms. Birnbaum, of those 18,148, –9,677 have been determined eligible for compensation, while 7,412 claims cannot be decided because they are missing either signed permission to obtain claimants’ records, adequate medical documentation, or sufficient proof that claimants were at the site.
  • Of the 9,677 claimants who were determined eligible, 6,193 have submitted compensation forms, for which 3,128 compensation decisions have been made.
  • As of the January 2nd, 2015, the Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) has made determinations for compensation of 804,116,233 dollars — an increase of $252,846,398 since September 2014.
  • Of the 3,128 claims that have had determinations made, 2,691 have been for responders, 397 have been non responders and 35 have been injured residents.

To download the new updated statistics you can go here.

To see the Special Master’s Message you can go here.