# Understanding the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act

This bill makes several important changes to the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides medical care and monitoring to people who were exposed to toxins during the September 11 attacks. The changes aim to make the program more flexible and ensure it has enough funding to serve everyone who needs it.

The most significant change expands who can conduct medical evaluations for 9/11 responders and survivors. Currently, only doctors can perform these initial health checks. This bill allows other licensed healthcare providers—like nurse practitioners and physician assistants—to do these evaluations too. This should help the program serve more people faster, especially in areas where doctors might be hard to find. The government has 60 days to decide which types of healthcare providers can do this work.

The bill also fixes how the program counts its enrolled members. Right now, deceased responders and survivors are still being counted in enrollment numbers, which affects how much funding the program receives. This bill removes deceased individuals from the count so the program gets accurate numbers and appropriate funding levels. Additionally, the bill significantly increases funding for the program, starting with $689 million for 2025 and growing to over $1 billion by 2031. After 2031, funding automatically increases each year based on both inflation and how many new people enroll in the program.

Finally, the bill creates a special research program to study health effects on people who were 21 or younger when exposed to 9/11 toxins. This recognizes that younger people may face different long-term health impacts than older responders and survivors, and researchers need dedicated funding to understand these emerging health issues in this population.

9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act

Maloney, Carolyn B.

9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act This bill increases funding for and otherwise modifies a federal program that provides medical monitoring and treatment to responders and survivors who suffer from health conditions related to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. Among the changes, the bill allows certain health care providers other than physicians to determine whether an individual's health condition is related to the attacks, and it establishes a research program to study the impacts of the attacks on health and educational outcomes of individuals who were 21 years of age or younger when the attacks occurred.