FEMA Agrees to Pay Cost of 9/11 Medical Claims

Months of wrangling over federally sponsored Sept. 11 insurance coverage ended Monday with a deal that could save city taxpayers as much as $350 million in payouts to workers injured during the cleanup effort.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials agreed to a request by the city that they pick up the cost of claims for medical problems arising from the period Sept. 11 to Sept. 29, 2001.

That period, when many workers suffered injuries or were exposed to caustic smoke rising from the ruins of the World Trade Center, was not previously covered by the $1-billion insurance program passed by Congress last year.

Monday’s deal cleared the way for the release of the money, and it ended a potentially ugly disagreement between Republican Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and President Bush before this summer’s GOP convention in New York.

In a statement, FEMA Director Michael Brown said, “City and contractors will have full insurance coverage for debris-removal claims arising from Sept. 11 forward.”

The deal was brokered in part by Rep. John E. Sweeney, an upstate New York Republican who has been a frequent intermediary between Bush and Bloomberg.

“This is the result of months of negotiations,” Bloomberg said in a statement. The “decision will allow the remaining details to be resolved quickly so the insurance company may then process all debris-removal claims without the city incurring any additional liability.”