A company tasked with helping 9/11 responders and survivors get free medical care has failed to achieve some of its basic aims, patients and staffers say.
, Kevin Maxwell spent seven months carrying out search and rescue operations at ground zero, filling up buckets of debris to create pathways into the rubble. It wasn't just a job for Maxwell but"a calling"; he was searching to find some of the 18 friends from the fire department he lost in the attacks.
In a series of interviews, nearly 20 patients — known as"members" — served by LHI and seven current and former employees said issues like Maxwell's have become routine and that LHI is not only failing to achieve some of its most basic aims but also worsening members' trauma. "Unfortunately, the way the program functions, you either figure it out or you just suck it up and go through your primary health insurance," said Young, who went on leave last month because she was burned out.LHI isn't an insurance company. Instead, it operates as a middleman between the 9/11 community and the health benefits they're promised.
At first, Day, a former emergency medical technician with the Fire Department of New York, said he was pleasantly surprised. He was notified that the program would cover his cancer within two to three weeks of his application, and surgery to remove his prostate was approved not long afterward. Before he went into surgery, Day called one last time to confirm that everything would be taken care of and said he was reassured that everything had been authorized.
"Members have to choose," said Young, the LHI case manager."Knowing that there is a wait time, am I going to wait for program coverage, or am I going to bill it to my primary health insurance, where they are then stuck with deductibles, copays, out-of-pocket expenses? And quite a few of our members don't even have primary health insurance."
LHI didn't respond to a detailed list of questions. A spokesperson said that the company is"committed to treating every individual we serve with care and compassion" and that it will"carefully review" members' concerns. "A lot of people are ignorant of how trauma affects the brain," said Carisa Authier, a clinical psychologist based in Arizona who provides therapy for two members of the program.
In 2019, the couple decided to leave LHI and start seeing one of the health program's hospitals in New York, even though it means Mike has to drive in from the outer suburbs of New Jersey for his appointments — and see the skyline he dreads every time.The two years after Maxwell's chest X-ray were"an ongoing nightmare" for Maxwell and his wife, Pat Aubert, as the couple tried to get the program to pay for approved blood tests and doctor's visits.
Schlintz was terminated this year on the grounds that her return date from mental health leave was indefinite. In addition to other members' being left in the lurch, he and Authier have both gone at least six months unpaid by the program on two occasions, causing them to consider breaking their contracts with LHI.
A WTCHP spokesperson said that LHI is able to raise any coverage questions during"weekly meetings" and that it is aware of the program's mental health policies. Former and current LHI employees said staff training lacked any significant focus on how to handle traumatized populations, who they said often make up the bulk of a case manager's day.
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