Congress to cut 9/11 first responders' benefits

Only days after a national health care act was expanded to provide coverage to September 11 first responders that have been diagnosed with cancer in the wake of the terrorist attacks, the future of the federal plan is now up in the air.

When US President Barack Obama signed his name to the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act in early 2011, he authorized the government to assist with medical bills incurred by emergency workers who have developed problems in the years since the World Trade Center was destroyed in 2001. Under automatic budget cuts expected to start next year, though, the health care program could be drastically cut short and stripped of millions of dollars in funding.

Under current plans, the automatic sequestering expected to save the country $1.2 trillion over the next ten years will do so by significantly trimming funding from the Zadroga Act. Huffington Post reports that $38 million worth of aid could be cut from the program in 2013 alone, with as much as $300 million in assistance being lost altogether over the current planned lifespan of the program.

Source and full story: Russia Today, 18 Sept 2012