Efforts to provide 9/11 heroes with healthcare fall short as Sedgwick Managed Care Providers mismanage its benefits, forcing responders to pay out of pocket

NEW YORK, July 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees is urgently calling on legislators to expand their efforts in providing 9/11 first responders with adequate healthcare. This plea comes after a bipartisan group of New York legislators introduced the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2024.

Over the last two years, since NIOSH/CDC, the World Trade Center National Health Program, changed healthcare vendors to the new vendor, Sedgwick Managed Care Providers have been unable to provide care or a choice of providers in their network for many 9/11 first responders adequately, forcing first responders to pay out of pocket.

Mike Lohrey, a lifelong first responder who was a Type 1 Incident Commander in 2001, had to wait about four months to be approved for lung testing and an eventual double lung transplant. 

In another case, a 9/11 responder was wrongly directed by Sedgwick to an ENT doctor who, in fact, was a dermatologist, demonstrating Sedgwick's lack of care, consideration, and overall insufficient ability to offer providers.

Marianne Pizzitola, President of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees released the following statement:

"We appreciate the efforts of lawmakers to provide for 9/11 responders with healthcare funding. We urge this same group of legislators to uphold our demands for an intervention on Sedgwick Managed Care Providers (owned by the Carlyle Group). The current vendor has continued its inadequacy while ignoring calls from 9/11 heroes and operating a ghost provider network. Their inability to live up to the contract places undue stress and anxiety on an already struggling population. As we near the next anniversary of 9/11, we urge the New York delegation to address this issue immediately. While we respectfully honor those who lost their lives on or due to 9/11, we should also hold and support our survivors and ensure they have the best care possible. 'Remember 9/11' is more than a bumper sticker. The New York delegation must live up to its promise and help them now."

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SOURCE NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees