9/11 Victim Compensation Fund: The Latest Statistics

On September 6^th, the Special Master for the September 11 Victims Compensation Fund (VCF) Rupa Bhattacharyya issued a message regarding the program’s latest statistical report. In her letter, she announced that, as of August 31, 2019, the program had made awards to 23,850 people, totaling almost $5.6 billion in awards. She also shared the good news that due to the passage of the “Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Act” in July, the VCF would restore previous awards that had been reduced due to lack of funding. In February of this year, the special master made the determination that the program’s funds, which were set to expire in 2020, would be insufficient to fully compensate all claims, requiring claims to be reduced by a total of $193.7 million. Now that the program has been funded through 2090, the special master announced that nearly 76% of the roughly 1,700 claimants who had their awards reduced have been notified of their unreduced awards, with payment being processed for 85% of those notified. She also reiterated her commitment to providing for the victims of the 9/11 attacks for many years to come.

VCF Statistics as of August 31, 2019

As of August 31, 2019, the VCF has found 24,907 claimants eligible for compensation. The VCF has made an initial award determination for 23,850 of those deemed to be eligible, while it has made issued revised awards on 6,208 due to amendments or appeals. The program has awarded a total of $5,558,700,352.32 to date.

In total, the VCF has received 51,816 eligibility claims, with 24,907 of those claims being approved and 4,861 either being denied or terminated due to the applicant’s failure to respond to requests for information. 13,960 claims were still being processed as of the date of publication, while the VCF was unable to process a further 8,088 of them. Of the eligibility claims that were approved, 4,952 claimed cancer as the only condition, 15,417 claimed a non-cancer condition, and 4,538 claimed both a cancer condition and a non-cancer condition.

Once the VCF has determined that a claimant is eligible, it will then review the claim to determine how much compensation the claimant is entitled to. As of August 31, 2019, the VCF has received 48,960 compensation claims. Of those, it determined that 24,642 (roughly 50%) were eligible for compensation. For those who were eligible, 23,850 (roughly 96%) had received an initial compensation determination. For initial compensation decisions that were rendered, $1,659,703,720 was awarded on claims with cancer as a condition, $2,123,529,179.76 was awarded on claims with a non-cancer condition, and $1,149,434,445.54 was awarded on claims with both a cancer condition and a non-cancer condition.