Claimants who receive disability benefits under the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program: If you receive disability benefits under the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program (administered by Social Security) as opposed to under the regular Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) program, please indicate that you are receiving SSI benefits when you file the claim and file an Exhibit 1, making sure to select the box requesting release of Current monthly Supplemental Security Income payment amount. The information that the VCF receives from the SSAwill include information about SSI benefits if applicable.
A special responsibility - Harvard Law School For each FDNY victim who is claiming loss of future earnings and benefits and has provided the appropriate authorization, the FDNY sends the VCF the following information, which the VCF uses to calculate economic loss: Generally speaking, because we receive this information directly from the FDNY, anFDNY victim who has been granted a disability pension does not need to submit any additional pension documentation unless the claimant asserts loss from non-FDNY employment. If you are submitting a claim for loss of future earnings/benefits from a union, or from Con Edison or Verizon, you must submit: If your employer is not listed above but offers a defined benefit pension, you must submit evidence that your employer offers a defined benefit pension and how that pension was calculated, such as a pension calculation statement, retirement statement, or a pension option letter. The VCF cannot award lost earnings for a disability that is not clearly related to an eligible condition. Moreover, computation of the after-tax discount rate using a relatively high combined New York income tax rate, compared to other states, results in a lower after-tax discount rate. For this reason, if you are filing a claim on behalf of a deceased individual we strongly urge you to submit your claim only once you can provide all materials needed to support the claim. NYPD victims who retired on a non-WTC-related accidental pension, ordinary disability pension that is not based on VCF-eligible conditions, or service pension will not be eligible for a lost earnings award unless they can provide a disability determination from a third-party entity such as the Social Security Administration or a treating physician that identifies a VCF-eligible condition as a basis of the disability determination. If you filed a claim for economic loss and have since decided that you do not want the VCF to review your economic loss claim, you may withdraw that portion of your claim at any time by filing an amendment. The Special Master will only offset the present value of collateral source compensation. This is the bar by which the Special Master will measure the appropriateness of an increase above the cap, and it will be done in consideration of all other circumstances of the claim and the totality of the award. Some Workers Compensation laws, both domestic and foreign, contain provisions that would allow the insurance carrier to assert a lien against an award issued from the VCF. If there is an indication that you are receiving, or are entitled to receive, a disability or survivor pension (or if the decedent received a disability pension before death), but you do not submit information necessary to calculate that pension or determine the basis of that pension, the VCF will not issue a full award and may issue only a non-economic loss award or deactivate the claim because, without that information, the VCF cannot determine whether an offset is appropriate and the amount of that offset. If you do not submit complete information about your benefits, the VCF will apply its standard default values: a 401k employer contribution equal to 4% of base salary and $2,400 per year for health insurance. The expenses are acceptable expenses as outlined in, The claim is submitted with the required documentation and in the required format, as explained in. The VCF will then obtain information regarding the benefits directly from the SSA.
Fact Sheet on HR. 1786/ S.928, What is the goal of the reopened If you are claiming economic loss, we obtain information and documentation from various third parties, such as the Social Security Administration (SSA), the FDNY, the NYPD, and the New York State Workers Compensation Board, regarding your disability, earnings history, and/or pensions if we have not already done so as part of our preliminary eligibility review.
9/11 Breast Cancer Victims Entitled to Compensation Note: If you received a non-economic loss award in VCF1, the VCF will consider the amount previously awarded when determining whether additional compensation is warranted in light of the 2015 reauthorization statutes prioritization mandate and non-economic loss caps. Chronic rhinosinusitis, or sinusitis, is a prevalent respiratory condition linked to inhalation of the highly toxic dust on 9/11. Such payments will be assumed to continue and will be offset unless evidence is submitted that the benefits or payments in fact terminated. We will obtain complete documentation of your service-connected disability compensation, including all rating decisions and all changes to the amount of your VA compensation, directly from the VA. Sections 2.2.f-i contain information specific to victims who worked for New York City (including FDNY and NYPD) and the Federal government (including military and military reserve); and. . Therefore, if PSOB has paid a benefit to the eligible victim, then the VCF will offset this amount. Treatment expenses covered by private health insurance, Workers Compensation, or other programs will not be reimbursed.
Section 2: Calculation of Loss (Compensation) | VCF Thus, there is a possibility in those states that payments to a victim or family member of a decedent might ultimately be subject to repayment from the VCF award. As a general rule, under the terms of the VCF Act, the Special Master has identified the following conditions as presumptively severe and debilitating and warranting the highest allowable non-economic loss award for a non-cancer condition, without any further documentation: Emphysema, Interstitial Lung Disease (including Asbestosis), and Sarcoidosis. Before these legal alterations were made in the program, it was the VCFs policy to offset only those WTC Volunteer Fund payments that a claimant had received as of the date his/her claim was filed because any future payments were considered to be uncertain and contingent on an additional infusion of funds and on the identification of a continuing funding mechanism. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, the state insurance fund, if compensation and/or medical benefits be payable therefrom, or otherwise the person, association, corporation, insurance carrier or statutory fund liable for the payment of such compensation and/or medical benefits: (a) shall not have a lien on the proceeds of any award from the September eleventh victim compensation fund of two thousand one established pursuant to title IV of the federal air transportation safety and system stabilization act, public law 107-42, as amended; and (b) shall not terminate or reduce such compensation and/or medical benefits based upon the submission of a claim for an award from such federal fund, and/or the waiver or compromise of any cause of action resulting from such submission.. The Special Master has determined that individual age-specific growth rates, rather than growth independent of a particular age bracket at death, better reflects the expected pattern of earnings over ones career[3] and results in more equitable and consistent projections for victims close to each other in age with otherwise similar family and employment characteristics. As special master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, or VCF, she faced a dilemma . Employer-provided benefits: Add the value of employer-provided benefits (or other benefits received through employment, such as from a union or government pension program). If you were not medically discharged for an eligible condition, you should provide other evidence and explain how it establishes that the loss of your military earnings and benefits was caused by your eligible condition(s). The VCF has made initial award determinations on 34,464 eligible claims (see chart below), and has issued at least one amended award determination on . When evaluating whether additional compensation should be awarded, the VCF considers the types of conditions compensated, the type, nature, and amount of compensation awarded, and the basis and timing of any lost earnings awarded in VCF1. How Does the VCF Calculate Awards for Multiple Certified Conditions? [9] The present value adjustments will be based on the period of presumed economic loss (which is in turn based on the age of the victim).
World Trade Center Victim Compensation Payouts [Explained] - DoNotPay In addition to evidence of a disability and a compensable loss, you must submit information about collateral source payments that the VCF may be required to offset against a lost earnings award. Claimants receiving benefits through the Workers Compensation WTC Volunteer Fund should provide the VCF with their Workers Compensation file number. When considering the authority provided by the VCF Act toissue non-economic loss awards above the statutory caps in special circumstances, the Special Masters intention (consistent with the intent of Congress) is to exercise this authority in very limited and unique circumstances, and only for non-cancer claims. In the early years of the WTC Victim Fund, claims for personal injury were awarded amounts that ranged from $500 to $8.6 million. A personal statement discussing the impact of the eligible conditions on your life.
Award Payment Statistics - September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 If you have insurance, the VCF will not compensate for any expenses that have not yet been evaluated by your insurance company or any applicable secondary payer. It is not possible to define and categorize in advance every possible collateral source deduction. To learn more about the World Trade Center Health Program or the World Trade Center Victim's Compensation Fund, . Under the Zadroga Act, non-economic loss includes . The FDNY Medical Board Committee Report: This is a report from the Chief Medical Officer of the FDNY on FDNY letterhead regarding the Result of Medical Committee, which summarizes the FDNY members WTC-related exposure, medical history, diagnosis, and the Medical Board Committees recommendation as to the extent of the members disability and fitness for firefighting duty. The VCF will then compute the amount of past and/or future lost wages in light of these factors (as explained below). Law No. World Trade Center Health Program: Approach Used to Add Cancers to List of Covered Conditions was Reasonable but Could be Improved, GAO-14-606, July 2014. [4] Application of individualized unemployment rates by age or occupation was infeasible and determined to be unnecessary. Required Documents to Support Lost Earnings for Certain Unions and Employers, Documentation Required to Support a Medical Expenses Claim, Civil Division Freedom of Information Act. To request a review in the case of a decrease in a collateral source payment when the higher payment was used in the calculation of your award, you must file an amendment. Prior to June 26, 2013, same-sex married couples were prohibited from identifying themselves as married on their Federal tax returns because Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prohibited the Federal Government from recognizing same-sex marriages. We are committed to representing our fellow New Yorkers to secure all of the compensation your sacrifices have entitled you to. 4.
Case Results 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Law Firm The type of medication prescribed and the frequency of use of the medication can help demonstrate the severity of the condition. In addition to evidence of a compensable loss, you must submit information about collateral source payments that the VCF may be required to offset against a lost earnings award. The exception will be made only in the small number of non-cancer claims where the claimant has an interstitial lung disease (ILD) or other pulmonary illness where the effects of the condition are so severe that they are similar in all relevant respects to what a claimant with lung cancer might suffer. Because you are eligible for treatment and medications once your condition is certified, the VCF will not reimburse for expenses you incur after your condition is certified if you decide to be treated by a non-WTC Health Program physician, or to have your prescriptions filled by an unaffiliated pharmacy. WTC volunteers are eligible to receive benefits through the WTC Volunteer Fund, which is administered by the Workers' Compensation Board. The VCF may also, in an appropriate case, make a replacement services award in a personal injury claim where the claimant did not have prior earned income or worked only part-time outside the home. Check the following table to see the payout amounts per claimant category in that fiscal year: What Is the Average Compensation for 9/11 Victims? In addition, if you filed your initial claim before December 18, 2020, and you did not claim medical expenses in your initial claim, you may file an amendment for medical expenses, and we will consider it, subject to the other requirements discussed in this document. Letter from the Board of Trustees of the Fire Department Pension Fund Regarding Award of Accident Disability Retirement: This is a letter issued to the individual on FDNY letterhead from the Director of the Board of Trustees of the Fire Department Pension Fund regarding whether the Board approved or disapproved the victims application for accident disability retirement. However, this is not all of what goes into VCF cancer payouts. Note: The VCF considers and calculates losses suffered before you submit your claim for lost earnings as past losses, and losses suffered after you submit your claim for lost earnings as future losses.