The 9/11 federal victim compensation fund is still receiving an average of 25 new applications a day even as the 25th anniversary of the attacks looms next week.
Special Master Allison Turkel Wednesday said people who were sickened or died in the aftermath of the terror attacks and their relatives continue to come forward to claim compensation at a brisk pace of about 750 applications a month.
The fund, which vets each claim to weed out potential fraud, has doled out $18.3 billion to settle more than 77,000 claims since its establishment by Congress in 2011 and is legally empowered to continue writing checks until 2090.
More than 6,000 people have now died from illnesses attributed to the aftermath of the attacks, more than double the number killed in the attacks themselves, Turkel told reporters at a virtual briefing ahead of next week’s painful milestone.
“Since 2011, we have paid what we call wrongful death claims, for claims to the personal representative of people who died from exposure to the toxins,” Turkel said.
More than 6,000 people have died from 9/11-related illnesses, more than double the number killed in the attacks themselves, Turkel told reporters at a virtual briefing ahead of next week’s painful milestone.
“Since 2011, we have paid what we call wrongful death claims, for claims to the personal representative of people who died from exposure to the toxins,” Turkel said.
At least 788 new claims were filed in July alone, including first responders and ordinary New Yorkers who lived or worked in lower Manhattan around the time of the 2001 attacks. Officials expect those numbers may increase around the anniversary when the media spotlights the existence of the fund and the availability of compensation for victims or their surviving relatives.
Congress did not put a cap on the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund and does not require it to be funded each year during the normal appropriations process, meaning the money keeps flowing even during government shutdowns, Turkel noted.
A previous 9/11 compensation fund gave out $7 billion to about 7,000 victims of the attacks before it was shut down in 2004.
The new fund was established after it became apparent how many people were sickened or died from exposure to toxic chemicals during the long rescue and recovery effort at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan.