9/11 Health Program Won’t Cover Cancer

The firefighters and police officers who worked at Ground Zero on September 11 and in the days following will not have cancer treatments covered as part of a government health program, the World Trade Center Health Program said Tuesday. Program administrator John Howard said there are inadequate “published scientific and medical findings” linking the dust particles from the site to cancer in responders and survivors. After a heated and lengthy battle, President Obama signed the $4.2 billion legislation in January to provide health care for the first responders, but now many of the lawmakers and survivors who supported the bill have spoken out about the exclusion of cancer. New York police officer Reggie Hillaire, who worked at Ground Zero for 11 days and then the Staten Island landfill, called the decision “heartbreaking.”