Only days after a national health care act was expanded to provide
coverage to September 11 first responders that have been diagnosed with
cancer in the wake of the terrorist attacks, the future of the federal
plan is now up in the air.
When US President Barack Obama signed his name to the James Zadroga
9/11 Health and Compensation Act in early 2011, he authorized the
government to assist with medical bills incurred by emergency workers
who have developed problems in the years since the World Trade Center
was destroyed in 2001. Under automatic budget cuts expected to start
next year, though, the health care program could be drastically cut
short and stripped of millions of dollars in funding.Under
current plans, the automatic sequestering expected to save the country
$1.2 trillion over the next ten years will do so by significantly
trimming funding from the Zadroga Act. Huffington Post reports that $38
million worth of aid could be cut from the program in 2013 alone, with
as much as $300 million in assistance being lost altogether over the
current planned lifespan of the program.Zadroga, a NYPD officer
that responded to the Twin Towers after the attack, passed away in 2006
from illnesses he is suspected to have picked up while working in the
toxic ruble after 9/11. Roughly 20,000 gallons of jet fuel, 100,000 tons
of organic debris and 100,000 gallons of heating and diesel oil were
ignited on 9/11 after two airlines collided into both towers at the
World Trade Center, NBC News reports. On the anniversary of the
attacks only one week ago, the government added around 50 different
types of cancers to the list of diseases covered under the act that now
bears Zadroga’s name, but the automatic budget cuts expected to occur
next year are expected to drastically defund the program and leave
survivors once more scrambling to pay for medical bills and routine
cancer screenings, which would otherwise be covered under the bill."This is unacceptable," John Feal, a construction worker who lost half his foot at Ground Zero in the cleanup, tells Huffington Post. "This is just another slap in the face from Washington, D.C."

"Last
week, Republicans and Democrats talked about remembering 9/11 and unity
all across the nation, and all that patriotic stuff, and now we're
getting this thrown on our lap,” he says."We just got cancer added, and we don't even know if we have enough money for cancer, and they want to take money away from us.”

Democratic
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a state lawmaker for New York, voted
against the sequester and now explains to HuffPo how Congress’ shortcut
to pay the country’s bills is burdening Americans who have long been
victimized."Nothing exemplifies this unbalanced and draconian
approach to deficit reduction more than asking our heroes who have
already sacrificed so much to sacrifice yet again so that Republican
leadership could appease their special interests. Our 9/11 heroes who
answered the call of duty should be treated with the same dignity as our
veterans. We need to come together and work towards a balanced approach
that keeps struggling families from sacrificing the most,” she says.
http://rt.com/usa/news/911-responders-sequester-zadroga-437/