9/11 survivors living in North Carolina are at risk of losing medical benefits

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Advocates for survivors of the Sept. 11 terror attacks are speaking out as a federally funded health program meant to cover their 9/11-related illnesses faces an uncertain future.

The program, established to pay for medical care for survivors and first responders, is projected to run out of funding by 2027 unless Congress or the President intervenes. The cutbacks have raised alarms among those who say access to annual screenings and ongoing treatment is essential for survival.

Retired NYPD Detective Robert Young, who now lives in North Carolina, responded to Ground Zero in the hours after the towers fell and continued working 9/11-related investigations for years. He still remembers the day vividly, telling ABC11 he was getting ready for work when his wife saw the terror attack on TV.

"As I looked at the TV, I jumped into the car," Young said. "By the time I got into the city, the second tower already dropped."

Young spent three days at Ground Zero helping with search and rescue missions, and years afterward investigating the attack as a member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

"Thousands of people lost their lives," he said. "Mothers, fathers, boyfriends, husbands, children... My wife's friend buried her husband and mother."

More than two decades later, Young is still haunted by the smell.

"The smell of burning, and people, you know, just bodies, whether they were whole, part, you know, pulverized. It was just the smell, and the smell was just stuck in your head for, you know, forever," he said.

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The collapse of the towers pulverized everything inside, blanketing much of Lower Manhattan in fine, toxic dust.

"It was dust for miles. Miles. Cars, houses, buildings covered in it. Everyone that worked down here, when you picked up an item, it got on you. You got it in your mouth. In your face. You wore it. You took it home to your family," Young said.

More than 60 types of cancers and respiratory illnesses have since been linked to that exposure. Young said the consequences have been devastating.

"It's very, very, you know, scary, to be honest with you. You know, I've lost one, two, three-three of my partners that I worked with on a regular basis, and I've lost, I mean, more than nine guys that I worked with in terrorism that passed away from me. That's unusual," he said.

Young is one of tens of thousands of people enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, created by Congress in 2010 to provide free health care to anyone with a certified 9/11-related condition. He told ABC11 that there are two versions of the program: you can get treated locally in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, or you can get treated anywhere else in the country. Young has had so many problems with using the program outside of the area that he travels up to New York for all of his check-ups and treatments. He knows not everyone is able to do that.

The program is also supposed to provide funding to someone's family if they die from a 9/11-related illness.

Now, the program's latest hurdle is recent cuts in funding as federal spending has faced cuts across the board, leaving the future of the program uncertain beyond 2027.

Young doesn't blame one side of the aisle over the other, saying issues have persisted throughout many administrations, hoping that someone will finally step up and ensure the program is fully funded and runs correctly.

"This has been a problem from Obama to Trump to Biden to Trump, even Bush," Young said. "It's traveled the whole plethora of Democrats and Republicans, I'm not pointing my finger at either party, but we need to get together as a group and fix it."

Michael Barasch, a New York-based attorney whose firm represents thousands of 9/11 survivors, is advocating for Congress to restore full funding.

"I'm afraid more people will die because they're not getting those annual checkups that they're entitled to," Barasch told ABC11.

He added that his office is filled with people who have been affected by 9/11, either becoming ill themselves or losing a loved one.

"I lose two clients every day to 9/11 illnesses. I don't want to see any more of my clients die. I want to make sure, because I take this so personally, that Congress fulfills that pledge that they made to never forget," Barasch said.

"Never forget" - a phrase repeated every Sept. 11 - feels increasingly hollow to survivors like Young.

"Every one of those firefighters and NYPD officers and Port Authority cops did their job. When people were running out, they were running in. OK? All's we ask is that you take care of us," he said.

Barasch and members of his firm will be in Raleigh next Monday to meet with a group of 9/11 survivors and discuss the campaign to restore funding, as hundreds of 9/11 survivors live in and around the Triangle.