Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
Program Status Gao ID: GAO-07-1037R September 7, 2007From 1945 through 1962, the United States conducted a series of aboveground atomic weapons tests as it built up its Cold War nuclear arsenal. Around this same time period, the United States also conducted underground uranium-mining operations and related activities, which were critical to the production of the atomic weapons. Many people were exposed to radiation resulting from the nuclear weapons development and testing program, and such exposure is presumed to have produced an increased incidence of certain serious diseases, including various types of cancer. To make partial restitution to these individuals, or their eligible surviving beneficiaries, for their hardships associated with the radiation exposure, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was enacted on October 15, 1990. RECA provided that the Attorney General be responsible for processing and adjudicating claims under the act. The Department of Justice (DOJ) established the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program (RECP), which is administered by its Civil Division's Torts Branch. RECP began processing claims in April 1992. RECA has been amended various times, including on July 10, 2000, when the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2000 (RECA Amendments of 2000) were enacted. The RECA Amendments of 2000 broadened the scope of eligibility for benefits to include two new occupationally exposed claimant categories (uranium mill workers and uranium ore transporters), expanding both the time periods and geographic areas covered, and adding compensable diseases, thus allowing more individuals to be eligible to qualify. The RECA Trust Fund is scheduled to terminate in 2022 pursuant to a sunset provision in the legislation. The RECA Amendments of 2000 also mandated that we report to Congress on DOJ's administration of RECA not later than 18 months after the enactment of the amendments and every 18 months thereafter. We have reported three times previously on DOJ's administration of RECA. This report updates information on DOJ's administration of RECA including the outcome of the claims adjudication process, including the number and status of claims approved, denied, and pending since RECP began in April 1992; average processing time for claims; and RECP's current estimates of the number of future claims to be paid from the RECA Trust Fund, associated funding requirements, and RECP administrative costs.
From April 1992 through June 2007, RECP authorized payments totaling $1.2 billion for 18,110 claims. Almost half of the $1.2 billion was paid to claimants who lived downwind of the Nevada Test Site during nuclear weapons testing. The 18,110 claims represented about two-thirds of the 26,550 claims filed since RECP began in April 1992. The remaining one-third of the claims were denied, because RECA's eligibility criteria were not satisfied or pending. In fiscal year 2001, the number of claims peaked at 3,822--the highest number of claims filed yearly since RECP began in 1992--following the RECA Amendments of 2000 that, among other things, broadened the scope of eligibility for benefits. Since fiscal year 2001, the number of claims filed with RECP has declined. RECP's average claim-processing times for each individual category of claims have decreased over the 4-year period ending June 30, 2007. In fiscal year 2006, RECP's overall average claim-processing time across all claimant categories was 339 days, which was 42 days longer than its performance goal for that year to reduce average claim-processing time across all types of claims to 297 days. Starting in fiscal year 2007 through the scheduled termination of the RECA Trust Fund in 2022, OPBE estimates that RECP will receive about 5,560 additional claims and pay an additional $248.3 million from the RECA Trust Fund to individuals who lived in certain counties downwind of the Nevada Test Site and individuals who were present at test site locations and participated in aboveground nuclear weapons testing. Over this time period, the number of claims OPBE estimates that RECP will receive from these individuals and the funding needed to pay their approved claims are expected to decline, according to OPBE's projections. Funding to administer RECP has been generally stable over the last 5 years, averaging about $2.5 million each year.
GAO-07-1037R, Radiation Exposure Compensation Act: Program Status
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September 7, 2007:
The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy:
Chairman:
The Honorable:
Arlen Specter:
Ranking Member:
Committee on the Judiciary:
United States Senate:
The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.:
Chairman:
The Honorable Lamar S. Smith:
Ranking Member:
Committee on the Judiciary:
House of Representatives:
Subject: Radiation Exposure Compensation Act: Program Status:
From 1945 through 1962, the United States conducted a series of
aboveground atomic weapons tests as it built up its Cold War nuclear
arsenal. Around this same time period, the United States also conducted
underground uranium-mining operations and related activities, which
were critical to the production of the atomic weapons. Many people were
exposed to radiation resulting from the nuclear weapons development and
testing program, and such exposure is presumed to have produced an
increased incidence of certain serious diseases, including various
types of cancer. To make partial restitution to these individuals, or
their eligible surviving beneficiaries, for their hardships associated
with the radiation exposure, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
(RECA) was enacted on October 15, 1990.[Footnote 1] RECA provided that
the Attorney General be responsible for processing and adjudicating
claims under the act. The Department of Justice (DOJ) established the
Radiation Exposure Compensation Program (RECP), which is administered
by its Civil Division's Torts Branch. RECP began processing claims in
April 1992.
RECA has been amended various times,[Footnote 2] including on July 10,
2000, when the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2000
(RECA Amendments of 2000) were enacted.[Footnote 3] The RECA Amendments
of 2000 broadened the scope of eligibility for benefits to include two
new occupationally exposed claimant categories (uranium mill workers
and uranium ore transporters), expanding both the time periods and
geographic areas covered, and adding compensable diseases, thus
allowing more individuals to be eligible to qualify. The RECA Trust
Fund is scheduled to terminate in 2022 pursuant to a sunset provision
in the legislation. The RECA Amendments of 2000 also mandated that we
report to Congress on DOJ's administration of RECA not later than 18
months after the enactment of the amendments and every 18 months
thereafter.[Footnote 4] We have reported three times previously on
DOJ's administration of RECA.[Footnote 5] This report updates
information on DOJ's administration of RECA including:
* the outcome of the claims adjudication process, including the number
and status of claims approved, denied, and pending since RECP began in
April 1992;
* average processing time for claims; and:
* RECP's current estimates of the number of future claims to be paid
from the RECA Trust Fund, associated funding requirements, and RECP
administrative costs.
To provide updated information on the claims adjudication process, we
interviewed RECP officials, obtained responses to our written
inquiries, and obtained RECA-related case information for fiscal years
1992 through 2007 (as of June 30) from DOJ's Civil Division's case
histories database. According to RECP, the information provided was
obtained from the same data sources that we had previously determined
to be reliable. We did not revalidate the data from these sources; we
believe they are sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this update.
We also interviewed officials in the Civil Division's Office of
Management Information (OMI), the office that maintains the database,
and RECP, the office that uses information contained in the database,
to obtain updated information about the database. We specifically
inquired as to whether any changes had occurred in the design
specifications and documentation of the database, quality controls and
procedures used to help ensure data reliability, or quality and
usability of the data. On the basis of information obtained from OMI
and RECP officials, we did not identify any data reliability issues.
For information on average claim-processing times, we received data
from the case histories database, interviewed RECP program officials,
reviewed the 2007 and 2008 performance budget submissions to Congress
for DOJ's Civil Division and RECA Trust Fund, and reviewed the results
of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) evaluation of RECP using
OMB's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART).[Footnote 6] We then
compared RECP's average claim-processing times for fiscal years 2004
through 2006, and 2007 (as of June 30).
To provide updated information on RECP's estimates of the number of
future claims to be paid from the RECA Trust Fund, including associated
funding requirements, and on RECP administrative costs, we obtained
these data from the Civil Division's Office of Planning, Budget and
Evaluation (OPBE). We also obtained an explanation from OPBE of the
method and mathematical model used to develop these estimates.
Estimates of future claims were limited to claims paid from the Trust
Fund because some RECA claims are paid through a program administered
by the Department of Labor.
We conducted our review from May 2007 through August 2007 in accordance
with generally accepted government auditing standards.
Results in Brief:
From April 1992 through June 2007, RECP authorized payments totaling
$1.2 billion for 18,110 claims. Almost half of the $1.2 billion was
paid to claimants who lived downwind of the Nevada Test Site during
nuclear weapons testing. The 18,110 claims represented about two-thirds
of the 26,550 claims filed since RECP began in April 1992. The
remaining one-third of the claims were denied, because RECA's
eligibility criteria were not satisfied or pending. In fiscal year
2001, the number of claims peaked at 3,822--the highest number of
claims filed yearly since RECP began in 1992--following the RECA
Amendments of 2000 that, among other things, broadened the scope of
eligibility for benefits. Since fiscal year 2001, the number of claims
filed with RECP has declined.
RECP's average claim-processing times for each individual category of
claims have decreased over the 4-year period ending June 30, 2007. In
fiscal year 2006, RECP's overall average claim-processing time across
all claimant categories was 339 days, which was 42 days longer than its
performance goal for that year to reduce average claim-processing time
across all types of claims to 297 days.
Starting in fiscal year 2007 through the scheduled termination of the
RECA Trust Fund in 2022, OPBE estimates that RECP will receive about
5,560 additional claims and pay an additional $248.3 million from the
RECA Trust Fund to individuals who lived in certain counties downwind
of the Nevada Test Site and individuals who were present at test site
locations and participated in aboveground nuclear weapons
testing.[Footnote 7] Over this time period, the number of claims OPBE
estimates that RECP will receive from these individuals and the funding
needed to pay their approved claims are expected to decline, according
to OPBE's projections. Funding to administer RECP has been generally
stable over the last 5 years, averaging about $2.5 million each year.
Background:
RECA established a procedure to make partial restitution to eligible
individuals who contracted serious diseases, such as certain types of
cancers, presumably resulting from exposure to radiation from
aboveground nuclear tests or as a result of their employment in the
uranium industry. These individuals are referred to as (1) downwinders
(persons who lived in certain counties downwind of the Nevada Test
Site); (2) on-site participants (persons who were present at test site
locations and participated in aboveground nuclear weapons testing); and
(3) above-and underground uranium miners, uranium mill workers, and ore
transporters (persons who were employed in the uranium industry for at
least 1 year and, in the case of uranium miners, were exposed to
certain specified levels of radiation). Figure 1 shows the current
geographic areas under RECA that represent the scope of eligibility for
benefits coverage.
Figure 1: Map of RECA-Covered Areas:
[See PDF for image]
Source: Department of Justice, Civil Division.
[End of figure]
In addition to creating eligibility criteria for compensation, RECA
created a Trust Fund from which to pay claims. The Attorney General is
responsible for reviewing claims to determine whether claimants qualify
for compensation and establishing procedures for paying claims. To
discharge these responsibilities, the Attorney General has issued
implementing regulations.[Footnote 8] The regulations established RECP
within DOJ's Civil Division and charged it with administering claims
adjudication and compensation under the act.
To file for compensation, the claimant or eligible surviving
beneficiary, either acting on his or her own behalf or represented by
counsel, submits the appropriate claim form along with corroborating
documentation to RECP, whose claims examiners and legal staff review
and adjudicate the claims. RECP's review of claims results in either
approval or denial. If RECP approves a claim, a letter is sent
notifying the person of the approval and enclosing an "acceptance of
payment" form for the claimant to return to RECP. According to program
officials, upon receipt of a signed acceptance of payment form and
corroboration of banking information from the claimant's financial
institution, DOJ authorizes the Department of the Treasury or the
Department of Labor, depending on the type of claim, to make payment to
the claimant. The Treasury Department makes payments to downwinder and
on-site participant claimants from the RECA Trust Fund. Payments from
the Labor Department to uranium miners, uranium millers, and ore
transporters come from the Energy Employees Occupational Illness
Compensation Fund.[Footnote 9] If RECP denies a claim, the claimant may
pursue the following two administrative options before seeking judicial
review of the denied claim, according to program officials. First,
denied claimants may refile their claims up to three times in cases
where they obtain new supporting documentation[Footnote 10] that they
did not have when their claims were previously filed and that they
believe might correct the deficiency that resulted in the denial.
Second, denied claimants may appeal the denial, in writing, within 60
days of the date of the decision to an appeals officer within the Civil
Division, who may either affirm or reverse the decision, or remand the
claim to RECP for further action when appropriate. After exhausting the
administrative appeal process, denied claimants may seek judicial
review of the claim in a U.S. district court. For a flowchart of the
RECA claims adjudication process, including the procedures for refiling
and administratively appealing denied claims, see appendix I.
In September 2002, in response to congressional direction,[Footnote 11]
the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a division of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, asked the National
Research Council (NRC) to convene a committee to assess recent
scientific evidence associating radiation exposure with cancers or
other human health effects and determine whether other groups of people
or additional geographic areas should be covered under RECA.[Footnote
12] In April 2005, NRC's committee published its report entitled
Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure
Screening and Education Program, which included among its
recommendations that Congress establish a new, science-based process to
determine whether persons from other states and territories should be
eligible for coverage and compensation under RECA. The new science-
based process would assess eligibility using a method called
"probability of causation/assigned share," which is a mathematical
formula representing the fraction of a group of identical persons in
whom a radiation-induced cancer would be expected to occur at some
specified time after receiving a dose of radiation. Eligibility for
compensation would be based on a scientific determination for each
claimant of whether his or her illness was caused by exposure to
radiation. According to NRC's committee report, the scientific evidence
indicates that in most cases it is unlikely that exposure to radiation
from fallout was a substantial contributing cause to developing cancer.
The Conference Report[Footnote 13] that accompanied the fiscal year
2006 Science, State, Justice, Commerce, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act,[Footnote 14] enacted on November 22, 2005,
contained language directing DOJ to submit a report to the Committees
on Appropriations, within 90 days of passage of the appropriations act,
that detailed actions the department and Congress could take to
implement the recommendations contained in NRC's committee report. In
April 2006, DOJ submitted a report to the Appropriations Committees in
which it concluded that on the basis of reviewing the recommendations
contained in the NRC's committee report, it would not have authority to
take action to implement the recommendations because doing so would
entail a complete revision of RECA, which would require legislative
action. According to RECP, Congress has taken no action to implement
the recommendations contained in NRC's 2005 report. RECP plans to
continue monitoring the activities of the National Academies of
Sciences and similar organizations that seek to revise RECA's
eligibility criteria.
RECP Has Approved Over 18,000 Claims, Awarded $1.2 Billion to Over
24,000 Eligible Claimants, and Experienced a General Decline in the
Number of Claims Filed Since 2001:
$1.2 Billion Paid in Approved Claims:
As of June 30, 2007, RECP had approved 18,110 claims and a total of
$1.2 billion had been awarded to over 24,000 claimants[Footnote 15] in
all five claimant categories since RECP began in April 1992. The number
of approved claims represents 68 percent of the 26,550 claims filed
during this time period. Downwinder claimants constituted the largest
claimant category of award recipients. Of the $1.2 billion paid out,
$561 million, or 46 percent, was paid to downwinder claimants, as shown
in figure 2.
Figure 2: Downwinder Claimants Received Almost Half of the $1.2 Billion
in Payments:
[See PDF for image]
Source: DOJ's Civil Division.
[End of figure]
Among the claims not approved since RECP began in April 1992, 7,539
were denied because RECA's eligibility criteria were not satisfied, and
901 were pending adjudication, as of June 30, 2007. According to RECP
data, in about 40 percent (2,916) of the claims denied, claimants
continued to pursue a compensation award--1,856 refiled their claims at
least once; 1,048 pursued an administrative appeal; and of those who
filed an administrative appeal, 12 sought judicial review.[Footnote 16]
Table 1 shows the number of claims approved, denied, and pending by
claimant category.
Table 1: Claims Approved, Denied, and Pending from April 1992 through
June 30, 2007, by Claimant Category:
Claimant category: Downwinder;
Approved: 11,219;
Denied: 3,176;
Pending: 541;
Total number of claims: 14,936.
Claimant category: Uranium miner;
Approved: 4,560;
Denied: 2,661;
Pending: 208;
Total number of claims: 7,429.
Claimant category: On-site participant;
Approved: 1,114;
Denied: 1,393;
Pending: 112;
Total number of claims: 2,619.
Claimant category: Uranium miller;
Approved: 1,000;
Denied: 239;
Pending: 33;
Total number of claims: 1,272.
Claimant category: Ore transporter;
Approved: 217;
Denied: 70;
Pending: 7;
Total number of claims: 294.
Total;
Approved: 18,110;
Denied: 7,539;
Pending: 901;
Total number of claims: 26,550.
Source: DOJ's Civil Division.
[End of table]
Number of Claims Filed Peaked In 2001:
The number of claims peaked at 3,822 in fiscal year 2001 following the
RECA Amendments of 2000, which, as we noted earlier, broadened the
scope of eligibility for benefits to include two new occupationally
exposed claimant categories. Since fiscal year 2001, there has been a
decline in the number of claims filed with the exception of a slight
increase in fiscal year 2005. Figure 3 shows the number of new claims
filed annually.
Figure 3: Number of RECA Claims Received Each Fiscal Year from 1992
through 2007:
[See PDF for image]
Source: DOJ's Civil Division.
Note: The numbers of RECA claims received from 1992 through 2007 do not
include appeals of denied claims.
[A] Claims received through June 30, 2007.
[End of figure]
The declining number of claims received since the peak in 2001 has also
allowed RECP to make significant progress in reducing the backlog of
claims awaiting adjudication. In 2003 and 2005 we reported that RECP's
backlog of pending claims was 2,654 as of September 30, 2002 and 1,803
as of June 19, 2005, respectively. As of June 30, 2007, the backlog of
pending claims was down to 901, as shown in table 1.
Average Annual Processing Times for Each Category of Claimant Have
Decreased since 2004:
We compared RECP-provided data on average claim-processing time by
claimant category for claims adjudicated in fiscal years 2004 through
2006, and 2007 (as of June 30). As shown in figure 4, the average
processing times decreased across all five claimant categories between
fiscal years 2004 and 2007.
Figure 4: Average Processing Times for Claims Adjudicated in Fiscal
Years 2004 through 2007, by Claimant Category:
[See PDF for image]
Source: DOJ's Civil Division.
[End of figure]
The Civil Division set a long-term performance goal for RECP to reduce
its overall average claim-processing time across all five claimant
categories to 200 days by 2011. Starting with fiscal year 2005 as a
baseline, and for each fiscal year thereafter through 2011, the Civil
Division also set interim performance goals for processing claims in
297, 277, 258, 239, 219, and 200 days, respectively. For fiscal year
2006, RECP overall average claim-processing time was 339 days, 42 days
more than its performance goal of 297 days.[Footnote 17] These
processing goals consider that much of the delay in claim-processing
time is attributed to periods of time when RECP is awaiting the
submission of additional documentation from claimants in response to
program requests for additional evidence to establish a meritorious
claim. According to RECP, there are also situations where the claimants
request extensions of time to provide such documentation. OMB, in its
evaluation of RECP's strategic planning efforts in fiscal year 2006,
noted that although the long-term performance goal to reduce processing
time to 200 days by 2011 was ambitious, it meaningfully reflected the
need to reduce the amount of time that this aging population must wait
for adjudication of its claims.
While RECP did not meet its overall processing goal of 297 days for
fiscal year 2006, it did process claims for three out of five claimant
categories in less than 297 days. For example, in fiscal year 2006,
average processing time for uranium miners was 289 days, uranium
millers was 216 days, and ore transporters was 206 days. According to
RECP, average processing times for on-site participant claims are
typically longer (454 days during fiscal year 2006). In many cases on-
site participant claimants requested extensions of time in order to
consider whether to continue receiving monthly annuity compensation
from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or to accept the lump sum
RECA award. The statute requires RECP to offset all payments made by VA
for the same injuries that the individual has applied for under RECA.
In some situations, the on-site participant claimant will reject the
RECA award in favor of receiving the monthly annuity compensation from
VA.
Similarly, processing times increased for on-site participants, and to
a lesser extent for downwinders, because these claimants requested
extended periods of time to elect whether to accept an award under RECA
or under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program
Act (EEOICPA). According to RECP, a provision of EEOICPA has been
interpreted to mean that on-site participant and downwinder claimants
who elect to accept payments under RECA are disqualified from receiving
benefits under EEOICPA for which they may be eligible. Further, with
respect to downwinder claims, which took 384 days to process during
fiscal year 2006, a reduction in staffing was the main reason behind
the delay in processing these claims, according to RECP.
Future Downwinder and On-site Participant Claims and Funding Needs Are
Expected to Decline over the Next 16 Years; RECP Administrative Costs
Have Remained Generally Stable over the Past 5 Years:
Using cumulative historical data on claim activity from RECP's first 15
years, OPBE estimates that starting in fiscal year 2007 through the
scheduled end of the RECA Trust Fund in 2022, RECP will receive a total
of about 5,560 additional claims from downwinder and on-site
participants.[Footnote 18] Figure 5 shows that the number of claims
RECP is currently estimated to receive annually will steadily decline
from 1,073 in fiscal year 2007 to 54 in fiscal year 2022.
Figure 5: OPBE's Projections of the Number of Claims RECP Expects to
Receive from Downwinder and On-site Participant Claimants during Fiscal
Years 2007 through 2022:
[See PDF for image]
Source: DOJ's Civil Division's.
[End of figure]
OPBE also estimates that an additional $248.3 million will be required
to pay approved downwinder and on-site participant claimants from the
RECA Trust Fund for the remaining life of the program. Figure 6 shows
projected payments to downwinder and on-site participant claimants
during fiscal years 2007 through 2022.
Figure 6: OPBE's Projections of RECP's Payments to Downwinder and On-
site Participant Claimants during Fiscal Years 2007 through 2022:
[See PDF for image]
Source: DOJ's Civil Division.
[End of figure]
OPBE projects that the funding needed annually to pay downwinder and on-
site participant claimants through the end of the RECA Trust Fund will
decrease substantially since fewer claims are being filed and DOJ no
longer is responsible for paying the highest-paid claimants--uranium
miners, millers, and ore transporters. The Ronald W. Reagan National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 mandated that uranium
millers, miners, and ore transporters (those who are the highest cost
claimants entitled to $100,000) be compensated through the Energy
Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program administered by the
Department of Labor, although RECP would continue to adjudicate their
claims.
Funds to administer RECP have remained generally stable over the last 5
years, averaging about $2.5 million each year. Starting in fiscal year
2003, appropriations for RECP's administrative expenses were included
in DOJ's Salaries and Expenses, General Legal Activities account,
rather than in a separate appropriation account. RECP's administrative
expenses for fiscal year 2007 (as of June 30) were $2.2 million, and
expenses for fiscal years 2003 through 2006 ranged from $2.2 million to
$2.9 million, as shown in table 2. Table 2 also shows the number of
full-time equivalent (FTE) government positions and contract employees
each year during fiscal years 2003 through 2007.
Table 2: Full-time Equivalent Staff Levels and Administrative Costs for
Processing RECA Claims during Fiscal Years 2003 through 2007:
Total administrative costs (dollars in millions);
Fiscal year: 2003: $2.2;
Fiscal year: 2004: $2.6;
Fiscal year: 2005: $2.9;
Fiscal year: 2006: $2.6.
Fiscal year: 2007: $2.7.
Government FTE staff;
Fiscal year: 2003: 17;
Fiscal year: 2004: 16;
Fiscal year: 2005: 16;
Fiscal year: 2006: 14;
Fiscal year: 2007: 14;
Contractor FTE staff;
Fiscal year: 2003: 3;
Fiscal year: 2004: 8;
Fiscal year: 2005: 7;
Fiscal year: 2006: 4;
Fiscal year: 2007: 3;
Source: DOJ's Civil Division.
[A] RECA administrative cost data for fiscal year 2007 are as of June
30, 2007.
[End of table]
Agency Comments:
We provided a draft of this report to the Attorney General for review
and comment.
DOJ advised us that it had no formal agency comments. Department of
Justice staff provided technical comments, which have been incorporated
into the report as appropriate.
Copies of this report are being sent to the Acting Attorney General;
the Director, Office of Management and Budget; selected congressional
committees; and any other interested parties. We will also make copies
available to others upon request. Contact points for our Offices of
Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last
page of this report. In addition, the report will be available at no
charge on GAO's Web site at [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov].
If you or your staffs have any questions about this report, please
contact me at 202-512-9610 or at caldwells@gao.gov. William W. Crocker,
Mary Y. Martin, and Geoffrey R. Hamilton made key contributions to this
report.
Signed by:
Stephen L. Caldwell:
Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues:
[End of section]
Appendix I: RECP's Claims Adjudication Process:
Figure: RECP's Claims Adjudication Process:
[See PDF for image]
Source: Prepared by GAO based on RECP's data.
[A] The RECP attorney may request additional supporting information
before making a recommendation (for approval or denial) to the
Assistant Director.
[B] Claimants have the option of refiling their denied claims or
appealing the denial decision to the appeals officer.
[C] RECP authorizes the Department of the Treasury to pay downwinder
and on-site participant claims and the Department of Labor to pay
claims of uranium miners, uranium millers, and ore transporters.
[D] Claimants who have been denied are permitted to refile their claims
if (1) they provide information to correct the deficiency that was the
basis for the last denial under the original RECA legislation or (2)
they believe that they are now eligible as a result of the 1999
regulatory changes and/or the 2000 amendments. As of July 10, 2000, on
the basis of the RECA Amendments of 2000, a claimant can refile a claim
for consideration up to three times.
[E] A claimant may appeal the denial, in writing, within 60 days of the
Assistant Director's decision.
[F] The appeals officer may (1) reverse the denial (award compensation
to the claimant), (2) affirm the denial (deny compensation to the
claimant), or (3) remand the case to RECP for further consideration.
[End of figure]
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] Pub. L. No. 101-426, 104 Stat. 920 (1990). RECA recognizes that the
amount of money paid does not completely compensate for the burdens
placed upon such individuals.
[2] Amendments included the November 1990 amendments (Pub. L. No.101-
510, 104 Stat.1835, 1837) that, among other things, expanded
eligibility to include on-site participants; the October 1992
amendments (Pub. L. No. 102-486, 106 Stat. 3131) that provided for the
judicial review of denied claims; and the November 2002 amendments
(Pub. L. No. 107-273, 116 Stat.1758) that, among other things,
eliminated the requirement for uranium workers diagnosed with lung
cancer to submit medical evidence of a non-malignant respiratory
disease because this requirement had the unintended effect of excluding
most lung cancer claimants from establishing eligibility for
compensation.
[3] Pub. L. No. 106-245, 114 Stat. 501 (2000).
[4] Section 11007 of the 21st Century Department of Justice
Appropriations Authorization Act (Pub. L. No. 107-273, 116 Stat. 1758,
1818 (2002)) made a technical amendment to the GAO reporting
requirement provisions by striking such reporting provision in the RECA
Amendments of 2000 and enacting the same reporting requirement
provision at a different location within RECA.
[5] GAO, Radiation Exposure Compensation: Analysis of Justice's Program
Administration, GAO-01-1043 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 17, 2001); GAO,
Radiation Exposure Compensation: Funding to Pay Claims May Be
Inadequate to Meet Projected Needs, GAO-03-481 (Washington, D.C.: Apr.
14, 2003); and GAO, Radiation Exposure Compensation Act: Program
Status, GAO-05-1002R (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 28, 2005).
[6] Using this tool, OMB evaluated RECP in fiscal year 2006 in the
areas of program purpose and design, strategic planning, program
management, and program results and accountability. OMB rated RECP as
performing adequately.
[7] For purposes of this report, the other three claimant categories--
uranium miners, uranium millers, and ore transporters--are excluded
from OPBE's estimates of future claims and funding requirements because
the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2005 mandated that approved claims in these claimant categories be
compensated through the Department of Labor's Energy Employees
Occupational Illness Compensation Fund, although RECP would continue to
adjudicate their claims [Pub. L. No. 108-375,118 Stat.1811, 2187-88
(2004)].
[8] DOJ implementing regulations for the RECA program are found at Part
79 of Title 28 Code of Federal Regulations (28 C.F.R. Part 79).
[9] The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program
compensates certain workers of the Department of Energy (and certain
contractors and subcontractors) who work or worked at nuclear
facilities or nuclear weapons testing sites or their survivors, as well
as RECA-covered uranium miners, millers, and ore transporters injured
by exposure to ultrahazardous materials, or their survivors. This
program's authorizing statute, the Energy Employees Occupational
Illness Compensation Program Act, enacted on October 30, 2000, made a
permanent appropriation of such amounts as may be needed to pay
benefits. Pub. L. No. 106-398, 114 Stat. 1654 (2000).
[10] As of July 10, 2000, on the basis of the RECA Amendments of 2000,
a claimant can resubmit a claim for consideration up to three times.
[11] H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 107-593, at 158 (2002).
[12] HRSA provides national leadership, program resources, and services
needed to improve access to quality health care for uninsured,
underserved, and special needs populations. More detailed information
on HRSA can be obtained through the HRSA Web site at [hyperlink,
http://www.hrsa.gov]. NRC is part of the National Academies, which also
comprise the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of
Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. They are private, nonprofit
institutions that provide science, technology and health policy advice
under a congressional charter. See [hyperlink,
http://www.nationalacademies.org].
[13] H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 109-272 (2005).
[14] Pub. L. No. 109-108, 119 Stat. 2290 (2005).
[15] According to RECP, many claims include multiple eligible
beneficiaries such as the children or grandchildren of a deceased
uranium worker, on-site participant, or downwinder claimant. Because of
that, the number of award recipients is greater than the number of
claims awarded. The lump sum payment award is divided equally among the
recipients.
[16] Of the 12 claimants who sought judicial review, 2 of the claimants
withdrew their claims after filing them with district court. One
claimant voluntarily withdrew the claim immediately after filing it in
district court and according to a RECP official, the claimant decided
to refile the claim with RECP after obtaining new evidence to correct
the deficiency that resulted in RECP's denial of the claim. The other
claimant withdrew the claim after the district court dismissed it for
failure to follow proper filing procedures.
[17] According to RECP, the methodology it uses to measure overall
average claim-processing time is a weighted average calculated on the
basis of the number of claims adjudicated in each claimant category.
Using that methodology, the overall average claim-processing time in
days for fiscal year 2004 was 379; fiscal year 2005 was 316; fiscal
year 2006 was 339; and fiscal year 2007 (as of 6/30/07) was 312.
[18] To develop the estimates of future claims, OPBE used the Civil
Division's mathematical model, which makes projections on the basis of
cumulative historical claim activity data from RECP's first 15 years.
According to OPBE, KPMG, DOJ's independent auditor, has reviewed the
Civil Division's model and methods for projecting claim receipts and
awards for the life of RECP since fiscal year 2005 and recommended that
outlier years (fiscal years 1992, 2000, and 2001) be excluded from all
estimate calculations to minimize the impact of workload aberrations
caused by RECP's initial start-up and the RECA Amendments of 2000. OPBE
estimated the number of claims filed annually until the RECA Trust Fund
ends in 2022 by finding the average number of claims filed from 1992
through 2006 (exclusive of the outlier years).
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