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The Federal Compensation Fund For Sept. 11 VictimsFrom: Dean Huffman (dean@thehuffpeople.net)Mon Mar 11 18:53:41 2002
Below is an example of what the government can do if it wants to. Although participating in the federal compensation fund is voluntary, the government could have just as easily made it mandatory. They made participation in the vaccination compensation act mandatory. - - - - The federal compensation fund for Sept. 11 victims announced final rules Thursday that its administrator said will give many families hundreds of thousands of dollars more than previous offers. But some of those who lost loved ones are dissatisfied. Kenneth Feinberg, who oversees the Justice Department (news - web sites) fund, made changes amid complaints that payout formulas were too low. Feinberg said Thursday that the awards, which will be tax-free, will now average $1.85 million. That is an increase of $200,000 from payouts he proposed in December. Life insurance and pensions will be deducted from the payouts; charitable contributions will be exempt. Under the new proposal: * Payments for economic loss, which compensate for income the victim would have earned, were liberalized. In tables based on age, income and family size, the spouse of a $225,000-a-year executive with two young children, for example, would get $4.5 million before deductions. The offer in December was $3.8 million. * In compensation for losses beyond income, such as the loss of companionship, each surviving spouse and child will receive $100,000, double the earlier figure. Feinberg made no change in the flat $250,000 that every family receives. * Worker compensation and Social Security (news - web sites) spousal benefits won't be counted as the "collateral payments" that Congress required the Justice Department to offset against awards. But life insurance and other deductions still could result in no federal compensation for the wealthiest families. The attacks caused about 3,000 deaths and nearly 1,000 injuries. The final rules for the fund, created as a no-fault alternative to suing airlines, make more injured persons eligible for compensation. The interim rules denied payment unless someone had been treated by a doctor within 24 hours of the attacks. Now the interval can be up to 72 hours. Rescue workers may have no time limit. "The time for comment and debate is over," Feinberg said. But Steve Push, treasurer of Families of Sept. 11, says it's ''pretty likely'' that his 700-member group will sue the government for allegedly ignoring the generous intentions of Congress. "There are some significant improvements, but overall, we're disappointed," he says. Push's wife, Lisa Raines, was aboard the jet that hijackers flew into the Pentagon (news - web sites). He says the fund should value a human life at a minimum of $2.7 million, the figure the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) uses in studies of safety rules. And the $250,000 non-economic award is "arbitrary and capricious," he says.
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