City to Help Pay 9/11 Treatment Costs Since '07

By ARI PAUL

Those suffering from mental-health or substance-abuse problems related to 9/11 can seek reimbursements for treatment through a city-backed program, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced April 21.

LILLIAN ROBERTS: Evidence of persistent problems.

A department statement said it "is making the benefit program retroactive to January 2, 2007, to provide continuity of coverage. The agency is also expanding eligibility beyond certain target groups to include any New York City resident who suffers from 9/11-related psychological distress, verified by a licensed provider. Outreach and enrollment will be managed by the Mental Health Association of New York City, a private, not-for-profit organization that works to change attitudes about mental illnesses."

'Don't Worry About Costs'

Executive Deputy Commissioner David Rosin said in a statement that those seeking treatment should not be deterred by "cost concerns."

In a study released last August, the department found that 12.4 percent of 9/11 responders have post-traumatic stress disorder, which is more than triple the rate for the general population.

People who are interested in the program can either call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov/9-11healthinfo for more information.

"There's a whole series of programs arising through 9/11," said City Council Mental Health Chairman G. Oliver Koppell, pointing to both city and private mental health programs. "It's an extension."

Marianne Pizzitola, the president of the Uniformed FDNY EMS Retirees Association, believed that the while the development was a good idea, it did not make up for the city's past contesting of many retired Emergency Medical Service employees' Workers' Compensation claims.

'Window Dressing'

"While this program is an attempt to help people, it is nothing more than window dressing when the city still sends letters to city workers in response to their 9/11 claims that state, 'No industrial accident, no occupational disease, no medical evidence of causal relationship, accident did not arise out of/in course of employment,"' she said in an e-mail. "So explain to me how they can say this, and then suggest they would cover that same member through this fund?

Ms. Pizzitola added, "City Hall needs to stop playing games with people's lives and start putting into effect real changes in their own self-insured Workers' Compensation system and start approving claims and stop challenging them once a judge approves them."

District Council 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, however, hailed the announcement.

"We have found that for a number of members of DC 37 the post traumatic stress disorders caused by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center have persisted causing, for some, long-term disability," she said in a statement. "PTSDs have been known to increase the risk of depression and substance abuse."