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Lawmakers Push For Lifetime Healthcare for 9/11 Responders, Say $657M Settlement Not Enough

By Test Reporter | March 15, 2010 8:26am | Updated on March 15, 2010 8:29am
Sept. 11 first responder Marvin Bethea, at a 2007 press conference, displayed the medications he took following work at the World Trade Center.
Sept. 11 first responder Marvin Bethea, at a 2007 press conference, displayed the medications he took following work at the World Trade Center.
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Marvin Bethea/Getty Images

By Alexandra Cheney

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — Federal lawmakers claim the city's $657 million settlement with ailing 9/11 first responders doesn't cover all their needs and will instead push for lifetime healthcare coverage with a bill that will be introduced Monday.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan/Astoria), and Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn) have co-authored the $11 billion James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which will go before a House subcommittee Monday.  

The bill, which was named after a New York cop who died in 2006 after inhaling toxic World Trade Center dust, would provide medical monitoring and treatment to WTC responders and community members for the rest of their life.

At a Ground Zero rally, Nadler said that the legislation would give continuing health care as opposed to a one-time payment to "the thousands and thousands who lost their health at the World Trade Center.