Petitions to Add Autoimmune and Cardiovascular Conditions to the List of WTC Health Program Covered Conditions
On September 3rd, 2023, all of the Clinic Directors of the World Trade Center Health Program joined Dr. Dave Prezant, FDNY DC, including Michael Crane, MD Mount Sinai CCE, Jacqueline Moline, MD Northwell CCE, Denise Harrison, MD NYU CCE, Ben Luft, MD Stony Brook CCE, Iris Udasin, MD Rutgers CCE, Jeffrey Low, MD FDNY CCE, Joan Reibman, MD HHC CCE in filing two petitions the World Trade Center Health Program to add autoimmune and cardiovascular conditions to the list of WTC Health Program Covered Conditions.
On February 2, 2025, Dr. Benjamin Luft and Dr. Sean Coulston of Stonybrook University submitted a petition to add Dementia conditions to the list of WTC Health Program Covered Conditions.
Under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, the law governing the World Trade Center Health Program, the Health Program provides medical treatment to 9/11 responders and survivors based on a list of approved conditions whose cause has been associated with exposure to the toxins at Ground Zero. The statute outlines the process and requirements that need to be met for the World Trade Center Health Program Administrator to add conditions to the list of covered conditions.
All three petitions have been determined to meet the requirements of the Program regulations at 42 C.F.R. § 88.16(a)(1) to be a valid petitions and as required by the statute the program Administrator will have to review them and determine if they have provided sufficient evidence to meet the law’s requirements.
The petitions filed in September of 2023 to have autoimmune and cardiac conditions covered by the program were supposed to have been finally ruled on by the program by March of 2025, but that determination has been delayed by the new Administration.
There have been several and repeated efforts to call attention to the continuing delays in a decision on these petitions.
Senators Gillibrand and Schumer brought up the delays in the petitions process in their August 5, 2025, letter to Secretary Kennedy.
911 Health Watch raised the growing delays as part of a letter to Secretary Kennedy on August 8th, 2025, that brought up several issues including this one regarding the problems with the Secretary’s management of the program.
Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act listed the delays in their statement of September 9, 2025
911 Health Watch raised the petition delays again in our letter of January 12, 2026.
And in their letter of March 11, 2026, led by Congressman Nick LaLota, (R-NY-1) along with Representatives Andrew Garbarino (R-NY-2), Tom Kean (R-NJ-7), Mike Lawler (R-NY-17), Nick Langworthy (R-NY-23), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY-11), Chris Smith (R-NJ-4 ), Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) and Claudia Tenney (R-NY- 24) to Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., calling on him to respond to the program staff shortage , delays in appeals, problems with the National Program and petition delays at the World Trade Center Health Program.
On March 18, 2026, for the first time under Secretary Kennedy’s administration of the program, the WTC Health Program has made a decision on a pending petition, Petition 026-Anti-Glomerular Basement Membrane (Anti-GBM) Glomerulonephritis; with a finding of insufficient evidence, This is the first action on a petition during the Trump Adminisration.
You can view the decision here.
Press Releases that mention the delays in the World Trade Center Petition Process
March 11, 2026
Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act applauded the letter by Members of Congress, led by Congressman Nick LaLota, (R-NY-1) along with Representatives Andrew Garbarino (R-NY-2), Tom Kean (R-NJ-7), Mike Lawler (R-NY-17), Nick Langworthy (R-NY-23), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY-11), Chris Smith (R-NJ-4 ), Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) and Claudia Tenney (R-NY- 24) to Secretary of […]
January 20, 2026
The World Trade Center Health Program is at risk because of the continued chaos that Secretary Kennedy and his directives are causing.
September 9, 2025
Secretary Kennedy must let the World Trade Center Health Program do its job.
August 26, 2025
This pause has shut down all normal communications between the 9/11 community and the World Trade Center Health Program and is impacting the program’s normal functioning. Given that it is now more than seven months since the new administration took over, it is long past time to remove the ban on the program interacting with the 9/11 community.
August 5, 2025
Given Secretary Kennedy’s record for the first six months of the administration, and with the 24th anniversary of 9/11 just a few weeks away, Senators Gillibrand and Schumer are calling attention to continuing issues with the World Trade Center Health Program that Secretary Kennedy must address.
Documents
2/26/2025 WTCHP Acknowledgement of Dementia Petition
12/23/2024 CDC Response to Members of Congress on Petition Status
09/30/2024 Garbarino, Nadler, D’Esposito Goldman Letter Regarding Petition Status
9/27/2023 WTC Responder Steering Members In Support of adding Autoimmune
9/27/2023 WTC Responder Steering Members in Support of adding Cardiovascular
Petitions
2/2/2025 Dementia Petition
9/03/2023 Autoimmune Petition
9/03/2023 Cardiovascular Petition
World Trade Center Petition Process
News Articles
WTC health advocates point to delays in getting new conditions covered
Newsday | March 27, 2026
Advocates for people who have medical issues related to the 9/11 attacks are raising concerns that staffing shortages at the World Trade Center Health Program and leadership shake-ups at the Centers for Disease Control have made it harder to get new conditions covered.
FREE CARE FOR HEART, AUTOIMMUNE PROBLEMS AFTER 9/11 TOXIN EXPOSURE? A DECISION IS COMING
Newsday | July 17, 2024
The decision from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is expected in the next several months, according to an agency spokeswoman