By Dave Goldiner
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — The health program that serves 9/11 first responders and survivors is still hobbled by deep cuts made by the Trump administration — despite a White House vow to quickly reverse reductions it made earlier this month — advocates, officials and lawmakers said Wednesday.
Dr. John Howard, director the World Trade Center Health Program, remains in bureaucratic limbo and has not been formally reinstated to his post as promised by Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in early April.
Many WTC health program staffers have been told their jobs have been eliminated and some have not been restored, despite claims they would all be rehired.
“It’s a shell game they’re playing,” said Dr. David Prezant, chief medical officer of the FDNY. “They fired a bunch of people, rehired a few of them and now many of them have been told they do not have a job.”
“They keep apologizing for their mistakes but they don’t fix them,” said Ben Chevat of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, a 9/11 advocacy group. “People are clearly not getting services that they need.”
Just this week, three FDNY employees who have been diagnosed with cancers believed to be related to their service at Ground Zero were not able to get approved for treatment.
One New York City emergency medical technician was told he has pancreatic cancer this week.
It used to take a day or two for the WTC health program officials to approve a treatment plan for such a fast-spreading illness. Now there is no telling if or when he will be able to start life-extending chemotherapy.
“It’s having a real impact on people,” Prezant said.
Without mid- and senior-level staffers, first responders and others who were exposed to toxic chemicals after the terror attacks on lower Manhattan and the Pentagon have been unable to enroll in the program. Usually several hundred a month sign up for the plan, a key step to unlock free screenings and potential treatment if their ailments are determined to be related to the Sept. 11 attacks.
A spokesperson for HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The agency told ABC News that services to members have not been affected.
The severe cuts to the program are part of a wide effort spearheaded by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to downsize government, including the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health , which oversees the WTC health program.
After a flurry of bipartisan outcry, the White House said it was reversing the cuts and reinstating Howard.
But it hasn’t actually taken the necessary bureaucratic steps to return Howard to his post at the WTC health program, effectively preventing him from approving treatment plans and overseeing other medical issues, an internal email seen by the News reveals.
About 137,000 first 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 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.
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